


You are My Home

by Bibliophile_812



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Fluff, Love Confessions, Sad and Happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-06-17
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:35:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24458308
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bibliophile_812/pseuds/Bibliophile_812
Summary: She asks the question at night while her dad tucked her in bed and kissed her forehead, "Why did you love her when you knew the whole time that she will be gone?"Jughead was expecting, rather dreading, this very question for a long time now. But he has to find some way to give a satisfactory answer to their 10-year old. He will not avoid it with a shrug and "my life my choice" kind of casual reply. Should he give her the journals her mom wrote over the years or should he tell her the story himself?Their daughter deserves to know everything. She deserves to know about the kind of love her parents had, she deserves to know that some bonds are not broken even when "death do us part" and some love stories never end. So maybe he should start from the beginning.
Relationships: Archie Andrews & Jughead Jones, Archie Andrews/Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper & Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper/Jughead Jones, Cheryl Blossom/Toni Topaz, Jughead Jones & Veronica Lodge
Comments: 5
Kudos: 40





	1. Where it all began

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys, this is my first fanfic. Comments and feedbacks are really appreciated.  
> Disclaimer: I do not own the characters.

** Epilogue **

"Did you know that she will be gone?" Maya asks. Jughead could feel the ten-year old's big green eyes on him; innocent, inquisitive and piercing in the same way her mother's was. He smiles the same way he used to while answering her mother. Then he tells the truth, "Yes. I knew." The next question will be harder to answer, he knows. He knows because he has been asked that very question in almost every possible occasion. Although that does not make it any easier. But Maya does not ask the question right away, probably because she felt her father's tension, she is better at reading her father's expressions and body language than almost anyone else.

Archie and Veronica came with their 6-year old for the Sunday dinner, like every week. Maya loves Katie, she is like a living doll for her. Maya will dress her up in fancy dresses, braid her fiery red hair in every way possible and read her fairy tales for hours while the elders will enjoy their endless chatting in the living room. Maya sometimes imagines her mom with them, laughing and leaning on her dad's shoulder the same way Aunt Ronnie does with Uncle Archie. She has no memory of her mother and though her father has decorated their whole house with every picture of her mother he ever had, it's not the same as living and breathing memories.

She asks the question at night while her dad tucked her in bed and kissed her forehead, "Why did you love her when you knew the whole time that she will be gone?"  
Jughead was expecting, rather dreading, this very question for a long time now. But he has to find some way to give a satisfactory answer to their 10-year old. He will not avoid it with a shrug and "my life my choice" kind of casual reply. Should he give her the journals her mom wrote over the years or should he tell her the story himself? Their daughter deserves to know everything. She deserves to know about the kind of love her parents had, she deserves to know that some bonds are not broken even when "death do us part" and some love stories never end. So maybe he should start from the beginning.

*******************************************************************************************************************************************

**20 years ago**

Jughead was sitting in front of a desktop, frowning at the screen, in the crappy office of their school newspaper, ‘Blue and Gold’, when he heard a knock at the door and looking up, met a pair of green eyes full of innocence and inquisitiveness. His own gorgeous blue eyes get lost in the bright green. He does not know the exact time, it may be 10 seconds or 10 minutes or 10 years, before a familiar raven-haired girl appears at the doorstep and almost shouts at him, " Where the hell were you at lunch? " Jughead rolls his eyes but before he could answer anything, Kevin comes into the room, throwing his bag on the desk, "Not that she missed you, she was too busy keeping her mouth in Archie's. But I was bored of my third-wheeling". Veronica was about to say something when she notices the new girl and beams at once, " Oh hey B!!" Jughead is genuinely surprised, "How do you already know her?"  
"Because I gave her the school tour today, dumbass", Veronica snaps. Then she announces, "We all are going to Pop's after school. B, you should join us", and with that she is out of the office.  
"Hi, I am Kevin Keller. You joined today?" Kevin asks with warm smile and extended hand.  
" Hi..yes..Betty Cooper", the blonde says smiling.  
"Jughead Jones. Why are you here?" Jughead tries to keep his tone as polite as possible, any girl getting along with Veronica generally means she is rich and snob, but this girl does not seem like one. She replies with a serious expression, "The Principal asked me to choose some extracurricular and I was hoping maybe I can join the paper?" Both Jughead and Kevin are shocked.  
"You want to join the paper with _us_?" Kevin asks while Jughead adds, "...and not the cheerleading team with Ronnie?"  
"Oh V told me about the tryouts", Betty smiles, " but cheerleading is not really my scene."  
She must have noticed the board covering one full wall with murder victim photos and suspect names with endless post-it notes, as she asks, "What's that?"  
"Oh that's... that's just...just...", Kevin was at loss for words when Jughead casually fills in "..just our murderboard."   
He clarifies further when Betty gave a little surprised look, "Kevin's dad is the local sheriff. We help to solve some mysteries time to time. This time it's a serial killer with three murder victims...yet."  
Betty asks with a pleasant surprise, "You guys love mystery solving?"  
"Oh I don't!!" Kevin responds quickly, "but Mr Poirot here keeps dragging me with him in new creepy mysteries and my dad kinda encourages him to do so."  
Jughead rolls his eyes, "Trust me Kev, I would not have chosen a partner who basically sleeps through the whole investigation process if I had a choice!"  
Betty giggles, "I can be your partner. I love solving mysteries", she adds hesitantly, "and watching serial killer documentaries."  
"Oh my God!! You guys are practically soulmates!!" Kevin screams and Betty blushes uncontrollably.  
  


And that was the moment Jughead Jones fell for Betty Cooper. The new blonde girl in high school with bright green eyes and soft smile who is so genuinely interested in solving murder mysteries rather than being at cheerleading practice.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Betty is excited. She did not expect to make friends on the 1st day in new school and she definitely did never expect the feeling of butterfly in the stomach for a certain blue-eyed boy. But the most interesting thing happened was the mystery. Betty loves solving mysteries, playing detective. As a kid, she re-read the Nancy Drew book again and again. She never had a friend who was interested in detective work the same way she did, that is probably going to change now.

As Betty enters her house, lost in thought, Alice greets her, "Hi honey..how was school?" Betty smiles happily, " It was pretty good mom. I made some friends." Alice is genuinely happy hearing this. Betty has a friendly and easy-going personality which helps to make friends easily, but she was still worried for her daughter's 1st day in a new school.

Betty was writing in her journal on a chilly Saturday afternoon when the phone beeps. It is a text from Jughead, " **Meet me at Pop's in 30?** "  
Jughead has explained the details of their investigation to Betty in the past week. The murders are all showing same pattern, one shot to the head, execution style. The three victims had nothing in common. One was an English teacher, Mr Peterson, in Southside High School, another was a female worker, Penny, in a southside bar and shockingly the third was Midge Mason, a student of their own school, Riverdale High. Currently they are trying to find a connection between all the victims. The third victim's postmortem report is about to come today and Sheriff Keller has assured to share the same with them.  
Betty replies, **“sure** " and gets dressed quickly. She cannot help but put a little makeup and look at herself for a good 15 minutes in the mirror before going out of the house and heading to Pop's.

It's a small town. Everything is within walkable distance. Pop's is the 24-hour open diner Veronica referred as "our safe place" on the first day. To which Jughead smirked, "It's my second home" and Kevin commented, "More like his second kitchen to raid."

Betty likes this group. Veronica is elegant and cheery in her own way. Kevin is fun. Archie, Veronica's boyfriend, is simple and friendly. And Jughead. Betty is quite sure that she already has a crush on that boy. He is sarcastic and full of dark humor. But he's also smart and thoughtful. Betty has read his articles in school paper and was really impressed by his writing style. Although she figured that he is somewhat introvert and does not have any friend outside this group.

She reaches Pop's within 10 minutes. Jughead was sitting at a booth with his laptop open. He has an empty plate and half-empty coffee cup in front of him. He smiles at her and waves. Betty goes to sit by his side. The laptop screen is showing a copy of the report from Coroner's office on Midge Mason. It mentions some drug in her blood stream.  
"Was she an addict?" Betty asks, shocked. Jughead shakes his head, "I was not close to her. Probably her friends can tell more. We should talk to her boyfriend, Moose."  
Betty is amused by the name, "Moose? Is that a real name?" Jughead smirks and raises an eyebrow, "You handled _my_ name pretty well."

A man in Pop's uniform comes to their table, "Boy.. you finished your burger already?" he smiles at Betty and adds, "does your girlfriend need anything to eat?" Jughead sighs, "Dad, she is not my girlfriend. Betty, my dad. Dad, Betty." With that he becomes super busy looking at the report as if they did not read it thoroughly just 5 minutes back. Betty notices the striking similarity between Jughead and his father. She smiles at the man, "Thank you Mr. Jones. I will just take a coffee." Mr Jones nods with a smile on his face, "Please call me FP. It's nice to see my son with a girl for the first time. Generally, he is always alone or with the friend group." Jughead sounds really embarrassed this time, " Dad, please."

  
While finishing her coffee, Betty and Jughead discuss their next move. They need to talk to Moose in school about the drug problem. Then they need to visit the bar where the second victim worked to find out if she was selling drugs to students. That way some connectivity can be established between the victims.

Jughead offers to walk Betty home once they left Pop's. They walk in comfortable silence for some time before Betty asks, "So your dad works at Pop's?"

"Yeah, he does." Jughead replies in an indifferent tone.

"And your mom?" Betty regrets the question the very next moment as Jughead's full body got tensed before answering, "She left. With my kid sister. It's been 4 years now."

"Oh! I'm sorry." Betty says honestly.

  
"Don't be. It's not your fault", Jughead shrugs, "Do you have any siblings?"

  
" Yeah, I do have a sister named Polly. She's in college now. My mom and dad got in a huge fight and got separated last year and mom decided to move back to her childhood home with me. Polly decided to stay with dad as she is in NYU."

Betty does not know why she told all these to a boy she practically just met one week ago. But she wanted to tell someone and she is really comfortable telling him.

He does not seem to mind or judge her situation, "So, how do you like Riverdale?"

Betty smiles bright, "I love it here. It's not crowded or busy like New York. It's peaceful."

Jughead laughs at this. Betty looks at him questioningly. He snorts, "Peaceful with 3 recent murders and a serial killer on loose. Sure!!"

Betty does not know how to react to this but she suddenly understands that's the reason Jughead offered to walk her home. Her heart melts at this gesture. They were almost at her doorstep when their fingers touch casually and Betty feels a shiver run through her spine. She does not know why. She manages to say, "Thanks for walking me home, Juggie." and feels her cheeks flushed at this new nickname. The boy does not seem to care, he smiles sweetly, "Goodnight Betts."

Betty ignores the fluttering in her stomach, "Goodnight."  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Talking to Moose helps in a lot of ways. He does not only inform them about Midge's addiction but he also confirms that her dealer was someone from the southside. Betty and Jughead are walking through the school hallways. They have set Kevin free for the day as he has a blind dinner date with some guy he met online. Jughead only rolled his eyes when Kevin was all excited about this date but Betty felt genuinely happy for him. Kevin is a good-hearted guy. He deserves to meet someone nice. While walking towards the school gate, Betty says, "I just hope Kev has a good time today."

Jughead scoffs, " Don't worry. As long as Kev's date is not the serial killer, he should be _fine_."

"We should name the killer", Betty proposes suddenly.

Jughead seems a little startled, "What? No! He is not my _kid_. I'm not naming him!"

"Oh come on! We can name him the Riverdale Executioner", Betty insists. Jughead protests immediately, "Nope! Definitely not that name." Betty does not give up, "How about the Riverdale Reaper?"

Jughead seems to consider it for a moment, "Not bad", he says before sitting on and starting the engine of his motorcycle. Betty's eyes grow wider with realization, "I am not sitting on that thing."

Jughead says, "You don't need to. It's anyways not safe for you in southside. I will go and check the bar."

"No, I want to come. Did not you say you _live_ in the southside?" Betty asks.

"That does not make it safe for _you_. I pretty much grew up there and I know many gang members who grew up with me. Sure, they are not all my best friend like Archie is, but they won't do any harm to me." Jughead explains.

"Do you have an extra helmet?" Betty asks without going into any kind of argument.

Jughead sighs, "You can take mine. But it's not really safe." He goes on, "Not the motorbike. But the southside."

Betty ignores the last part, "If I take yours, you will be unprotected."

"I will be fine, Betts. Besides I am not going to race the bike with you in the backseat", Jughead hands her his helmet and takes off his beanie to put it in the bag.

Betty resists the urge to comb her fingers through his smooth black hair. She puts on the helmet and manages to clip it somehow. She goes to sit behind him, a little nervous.

Jughead warns, "Hold on tight."

She wraps her hands around his waist without much thinking and rests her head on the back of his jacket. It's comfortable. She does not feel nervous anymore. She feels calm.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The bar is pretty crowded considering it’s a school day. Jughead walks comfortably to the counter with Betty closely following him, not so comfortable. The crowd is different than she is used to be around. A lot of tattoos and long hairs and muscles.

Almost instinctively she grabs Jughead's hand, entwining their fingers. A sense of safety and comfort flows through her body. It feels right. Jughead must have been surprised, but he did not react. He squeezes her hand a little in assurance.

The girl with pink hair in the counter greets Jughead, "Hi handsome! Have not seen you in ages!!" He smiles at the girl, "Hey Toni. Meet Betty, my new partner in crime." He finishes the sentence with a wink.

Toni laughs at that, "Wow! Don't you think she is too gorgeous to be in the midnight adventures of yours?"

Jughead smirks, "We'll see! But before that I need a favour from you."

Toni sighs dramatically, "Here it comes! The never-ending list of favours for Jones!"

"I know I owe you Toni but you know it is for greater good!"

"Yeah yeah, I know, isn't it always? Tell me what you need. I'll try to help as long as you don't get me fired from my job!"

Betty looks at Jughead, he is lost in thoughts. Betty offers, "Maybe we should step out for a while?" "Yeah that'll be good", Jughead agrees.

Toni says, "Give me 5 mins. My shift will be over after that."

"We'll wait outside", with that they come out of the bar to the packed parking space. Almost all parked vehicles are motorcycles and a couple of old trucks.

Betty was thinking about the place when she hears Jughead, " My dad used to own this bar, you know. Hell, he even used to lead this gang, the Serpents."

"The gang? What kind of gang?" Betty feels a little overwhelmed with this information and with the fact that he is actually sharing something about his past voluntarily. She has never seen that before. He is always guarded when it comes to his personal life, specially the past. She understood that none of their friends know much about his personal life, except maybe Archie.

Jughead continues staring at the bar but he answers her question, "It's a biker gang. Not as dangerous as people think it is but it's still a gang which runs some petty illegal operations, sells weeds and stuff. I have never heard of anyone selling any hard drugs though."

Betty nods and asks softly, "Why did your dad leave?"

Jughead is lost in thought again. After sometime he speaks, his voice thick with different emotions, "My dad has been a drunk and a gang leader for the first 12 years of my life. My parents used to fight almost every night. It's not like he has ever hit us. No, rather I might say he has always loved us, his family, in his own way. But when my mom left with my sister 4 years ago, he changed. Not really in a good way. He started too much drinking, then he stepped down as a leader. He went to prison a couple of times for bar fights. He was almost never home. That was a hard time in life, maybe one of the hardest times, I used to crash at Archie's almost every day. I'm so grateful for Mr and Mrs Andrews, they always treated me like family. And Archie, as his own brother. Then last year, my dad started to become better. He joined a program which helped him with his addiction. He started working at Pop's. We still live in the same small trailer in Sunnyside Trailer Park, but now it feels much more like home than it ever was."

Both of them try to blink their tears away when Toni steps out and comes to them, "Whoa! Am I interrupting something?"

"Nope! We are good." Jughead responds a little too quickly.

"Okay..tell me...what do you need?"

"We need info about the murdered worker, Penny. Do you know by any chance if she was selling drugs to the students? "

"Jones, I told you I can help you as long as you don't get me fired."

"What does that mean, Toni? Will you support selling drugs to high school students in a bar you work?"

"No of course not. I'm just saying that I can't tell you if the bar is involved in any drug dealing."

"Does that mean it is?"

Toni shrugs, "I have seen students from northside and southside coming here and having private conversations in corner booths with a few regulars. I don't know what it is about but if you want to know you should come on any weekend evening, I can show you."

"That would be perfect!!" Jughead agrees happily, "just one more thing...have you ever seen Midge Mason with those regulars? I'm assuming you know who Midge is."

Toni groans, "You push too much, you know. Well...yeah I saw her...with them...a few times."

"I really owe you Toni!"

Toni winks before hugging him, "You owe me a lot Jones!"

Then she waves at Betty and walks over to her motorcycle. Betty might be watching her too intently while she pulled out her helmet and started her engine, because Jughead laughed beside her, "Are you in love with Toni?"

Betty snaps out of her bubble immediately and before she could help, she asks, "You and Toni seemed close?" She desperately tries to hide the little pang of jealousy in her voice.

Jughead shrugs, "Yeah, we are pals. We grew up together." Betty asks, a little skeptical, "Are you...were you ever...?" She does not know how to ask this, is it even fair to ask Jughead if they have or had an intimate relationship? That's his personal life. And he already told her enough without asking, she should not push for more. But she wants to know.

Jughead might have sensed her question as well as her inner conflict as he lightly says, "We have been close friends since we were kids and we were each other's first kiss. But no, we have never been in any kind of serious relationship. Besides, Toni is more interested in girls anyways."

Betty feels immense relief with that information. She mutters, "Thanks", before taking the helmet. "For what?" Jughead seems surprised.  
"For everything. But specially for trusting me enough to share whatever you shared with me."  
"Sure", Jughead starts the engine without saying anything more.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Jughead is an introvert by nature, he has never been comfortable sharing his personal life with his friends. Sure, Archie knows, but he knows because he has been there, not because he chose to share with him. In fact, Jughead never had many friends, Archie has been the only friend for a long time before he got involved with Veronica and she became a part of their group. He only became close with Kevin when he started helping Sherriff Keller on the cases. But Betty is different. The first time he saw her, he felt an immediate attraction towards her. And that attraction is getting stronger every day.

He knows Betty Cooper is too perfect for him. She is gorgeous, straight-A student and has a brilliant mind. He enjoys discussing about their case with her in every way possible. She gives him new ideas, they both explore different scenarios together. But it’s not only that, they have become really comfortable with each other in past few weeks. Jughead can discuss his childhood, his love for mystery novels, his song choices and many other personal things with Betty that he never discussed with anyone before. They actually have a lot more common than he initially thought. But still they have hell and heaven difference, Jughead thinks. He remembers how Betty grabbed his hands when they went into the southside bar. She must have been terrified with all those people around. But for him, it is his home. He grew up with most of those people. Betty is too delicate and pure for his world. He is grateful that they are friends, and partners in solving mysteries, but he cannot expect anything more than that. He will never be good enough for her.

* * *

It is a Saturday evening. Jughead meets Betty at Pop’s before they head to White Wyrm, the southside bar. They have asked Kevin to meet them at the bar. They initially thought of going to the bar last weekend itself. But they had to plan properly. The regulars, Toni talked about, know both Jughead and Kevin. They will never talk to them. So, their only way was to use Betty as a student willing to buy drugs. It’s a perfect cover in many ways. Betty is new here. Nobody knows much about her. But Jughead was reluctant to go with this plan. He wanted to protect Betty at any cost. If those drug dealers have anything to do with Midge’s murder, then Betty might become a target after this. But Betty insisted and they had no other choice. So here they are, in front of White Wyrm, on a late Saturday evening.

Betty breaths deeply before she reaches for the door when Jughead pulls her a little towards him and asks, concerned, “Are you sure, Betts? We can still abort this operation.” A smile appears on her lips. God, Jughead can give his life for that smile. Betty assures him, “I’m fine, Jug. Don’t worry about me.” She squeezes his hand a little before entering the bar. Jughead and Kevin follow her, trying to be discreet.

As soon as they are inside, they can feel the crowd. Most of them are wasted completely. But that is normal for a weekend in the bar. What catches their eye is a young redhead in a corner booth talking to a curly-haired man who Toni described as a ‘regular’.

“OMG!! Cheryl Blossom!! What a gossip”, Kevin gasps.

Jughead is equally surprised. He looks at Toni who seems to be focussing more on the redhead’s beauty than the fact that she might be buying drugs there.

Jughead whisper shouts,” Earth to Toni.” Toni’s head snaps at his direction, “WHAT?”

Jughead rolls his eyes and continues whispering, “Does she come here and buy drugs often?” Toni whispers back, “I have never confirmed that there are drugs involved and no, I am seeing her for the first time here.”

Jughead and Kevin grab their beers and sit on stools near counter so they can see the whole bar. Jughead can see Betty is already there in Cheryl’s booth and talking to the young man. Cheryl looks at Betty once before grabbing some kind of envelope from the man and storming out. It does not seem like Cheryl actually recognized Betty, typical of Cheryl Blossom. But now Betty is alone in the booth. He tenses immediately. He tries to look away to avoid any suspicion but cannot get quite comfortable with the idea of Betty being alone in the booth with a potential drug dealer.

Kevin whispers in his ear, “Wow! I ship it.” Jughead almost chokes on his drink, “What!? What the hell are you talking about?” Kevin smiles meaningfully before answering, “You are obviously into her.” Jughead scoffs, but chooses not to answer.

After a good 15 minutes of waiting, they see Betty walking towards the door, alone. The man whom Betty talked to, is still sitting relaxed but his eyes are following her. So, they wait. After Betty goes out of the bar, Jughead and Kevin wait for another 5 minutes to see that the man is now busy with some other guys. Then they thank Toni and slips out.

But Betty is nowhere to be seen in the parking space. Panic sets in Jughead’s heart at once. He runs to the back of the bar. She is not there either. Jughead mutters under his breath, “This is all my fault. I should not have agreed to this dumb plan.” Kevin was about to say something when Jughead’s phone beeps. It’s a message from Betty, ” **Waiting on the road. Too risky to wait in the parking lot.** ” Both of them sigh in relief and run to the main road.

There she is. Gorgeous as ever. Standing on the side of the road with golden hair waving down to her shoulder and the twinkle in her eyes. Jughead pulls her into a hug even before he fully understands what he is doing and whispers in her ears, “I thought I lost you!” Her body seems to be melting against his. He feels warmth. He feels all the tensions releasing from his body. Then she whispers back, “You will never lose me.”


	2. Wherever the Mystery takes us

“Hey…why the name of V’s dad is on board?” Betty raises an eyebrow towards Jughead.

They are in the school newspaper office, the murderboard has some new names this week after their last week’s adventure in the bar. Betty managed to get the name and number of the young dealer, Malachi, who confirmed that White Wyrm is indeed being used as a place to sell drugs. Jughead talked to some of his Serpent friends to confirm that it’s not the Serpents that are dealing the drugs, Malachi is part of another small and new gang, named The Ghoulies and Penny joined the same gang sometimes back. That does not directly prove a link between Midge and Penny, but it sure seems the murders are connected to drug dealing. On the other hand, there has been no new murder for last month which seems a good thing. But they have not stopped working on the case and now the addition of Hiram Lodge on the murderboard suspect column surprised Betty.

“Umm..Because he is like a Mafia boss?” Jughead offers, glancing back. Betty’s eyes widen. Veronica is her first friend in this school who gave her the school tour and quickly became close to her. She is the one who dragged her to Pop’s and made her feel comfortable with the others on the very 1st day. She has come to consider her new bestie now. Betty never imagined Veronica’s family could be something like this, dangerous.

She does not try to hide her shock, “Does V know?”

“What, that her father is a criminal kingpin or he is the potential serial killer?”

She bites her lower lip, “I mean…both?” 

Jughead gives a little shrug, “Ronnie moved here with her mom when her father got arrested for some illegal business. So, to answer your question, yes. She knows that her father is involved in crimes. But she does not know that he is on the murder suspect list. Not yet.”

Then he explains how after getting released from prison Hiram Lodge set up his Rum business in Riverdale while buying the White Wyrm. It’s around the same time more cases of drug use and drug overdose started to happen, especially among students. He finishes the story with the case of Jason Blossom, Cheryl Blossom’s twin brother, who OD’d and died last year.

Then a realization hits Betty, she exclaims, “CHERYL!!!” Jughead jumps instinctively and looks at the door. When he finds no one there, he faces her, confused. She explains, shaking her head, “We saw Cheryl in the bar, talking to Malachi. Why was she there? Is she using too?” Jughead get lost in thought.

Cheryl Blossom is a complex character to understand. But it seems unlikely that she will choose the same path as her brother after he died tragically. On the other hand, Cheryl has been changed a lot since her brother’s death. She still is that snappy, moody and unpredictable high-school kid, sure, but there are times when people can see her softer side nowadays. She was too attached to her brother and Jason’s death impacted Cheryl much more than she allows anyone to see.

He agrees with Betty, “We should talk to Cheryl.”

“Maybe _I_ should talk to Cheryl”, she tries to hide a smile when Jughead furrows his brows, “You forgot what she called you last time you tried to talk to her?”

Well, he did not. But he does not care. Cheryl has always called people weird and insulting names and he really is not bothered being called “Donnie Darko”.

But Betty insists on talking to Cheryl alone as she might use the excuse of “cheerleading tryouts” to strike a conversation. She knows that she cannot join the cheerleading team. She can never dream of any exhausting physical activities and her mother would be terrified if she comes to know that her younger daughter as much as even set foot in the tryouts. But nobody needs to know that. She will just use it to make a conversation with Cheryl. Maybe she can find some information that will help the case. _Their_ case. She likes the idea of that. She has not told Jughead yet. How will he react if he comes to know about her condition? Will those big blue eyes be full of pity? Will he want to stay friends after knowing or will he leave and choose to have a pretentious “hello”/ “good morning” kind of friendship as her old friends did? Her stomach feels a pit even with the thought of losing their friendship. She knows him only for a month, but why it feels like she has been with him from another lifetime? It feels so natural, so comfortable around him. She cannot think of losing that, ever. Betty was becoming increasingly nervous and tensed at that thought when she noticed Cheryl walking towards the girls’ locker room. She quickly followed.

“Hey Cheryl”, Betty fakes a sweet smile, walking over to her. Cheryl was changing into her cheerleader outfit and she did not stop for a second while addressing her, “missionary child!” She resists the urge to roll her eyes and continues the conversation ignoring the name, “Do you think I can try and join the cheerleading team?” Cheryl looks at her, frowning, “Oh sweet valley high girl, the tryouts were 3 weeks ago. I cannot allow anyone in my team who does not even take the tryouts seriously.”

She pretends to look disappointed, “Oh..actually I’m new here. I did not know. No problem.” Looking carefully at Cheryl, she continues, “Hey…do you know any good place for a girl’s night out here? You know, like dance, drinks and drugs”. She whispers the last part.

Cheryl’s whole body gets tensed in an instant. Then she snaps, “You should learn better ways to enjoy…doing drugs for fun? Disgusting!” She does not wait for an answer. By the time Betty actually recovers from her shock at Cheryl’s reaction, Cheryl is nowhere to be seen. But it’s evident that she is not doing drugs. Then what was she doing at White Wyrm, with Malachi?

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Maybe Cheryl was talking to Malachi about her brother?” Betty offers.

“Yeah, maybe. But _what_ about her brother exactly?” Jughead replies thoughtfully, “Do you think Malachi was her brother’s dealer? Also, Cheryl left with an envelope that day. What could possibly be in that envelope, if it’s not drugs?”

Too many questions. Too little answers. Kevin is relieved to have Betty to help Jughead with the investigation so that he can finally enjoy his blind dates and midnight rendezvous. Jughead and Betty are lost in the mystery, in a booth at Pop’s, his laptop open in front of them. He has already finished 3 cups of coffee and currently on his fourth. Betty is taking time with her strawberry milkshake, enjoying it slowly while discussing the case. The bell at the door chimes revealing a happy Veronica and an exhausted Archie who come straight to their booth and seat across them.

“Jeez Arch! What’s with that face?” Jughead exhales.

Veronica wraps her arms around Archie’s shoulders, resting her head on them, “Oh nothing. Archiekins is just tired after today’s shopping tour.”

Archie murmurs something under his breath which makes Jughead chuckle. Veronica ignores the boys, taking Betty’s hand, “Bettykins, we should totally have a girls’ day out, together. We can go shopping, lunch and then movie. How about…this Sunday?”

Before she can respond, Jughead replies, “Absolutely not.”

Veronica huffs, “What’s your problem now? You are not her…”

Jughead cuts her mid-sentence, “We have work, Ronnie, regarding the case.”

Archie pipes in, “How about one day off, Jug? We can play video games whole day while they are gone.” He seems almost too joyful with the possibility of having a whole day enjoying video games with his best friend, without his girlfriend being there. Veronica rolls her eyes and Archie adds quickly, “Of course I will miss you, Ronnie. But you deserve some time with your girl.”

Jughead mutters, “Nice save!” Archie looks pleadingly at him and Betty notices his lips forming the smile that makes her heart skip a beat, “Anything for you, Arch.”

She nods at Veronica, happily, “Great! We are going for a girls’ day out then.”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The rest of the school week is packed with classes and tests. Betty does not think she could have been able to manage all the things without her friends. She does not know them for long but they already seem like family. A family that does not know her secret. A family that has not seen her long list of medication.

Her dad calls weekly to check on her with a formal “how are you sweetheart” and Polly texts with her college updates, sometimes asking about her new school and the town. But she knows when it comes to her regular check-ups with the doctor or nightmares in the middle of the night, she only really has her mom. The woman who has been with her for all her life, the only person refusing to give up on her even when she was at her worst. Alice Cooper may not be a perfect mother, but she loves her children unconditionally.

Betty can remember her childhood, how she has always been a scrawny kid who used to get exhausted with slightest of physical activities, how her dad always implied that those all were her excuses and she is just a lazy girl. It was her mom who will take her inside, buy new mystery novels and bake brownies with her. Her dad always compared her with Polly who is good at sports and cheerleading. Polly loved her and she never told her that her sister is making excuses to avoid physical activity but somehow, she could feel that Polly was on her dad’s side on the matter.

She was 14 when the incident happened. Her dad forced her to play badminton in their backyard and yelled at her when she was not fast enough. She was trying hard, when suddenly her knees gave up. She was out of breath, hands and knees shaking, whole body burning. Her mom somehow saw that from kitchen window and for the 1st time in life she ignored all her dad’s comments and drove her to the hospital for a full body check-up. It was that time when they came to know about her physical condition. That was the first big fight between her parents, she was the reason. And she knows that she is the reason for their separation too. Her mom will never admit that. But she knows. She feels guilty for ruining her mother’s life, her parents’ marriage. It’s not like she had any control over that, but still it fills her with immense sadness.

Betty likes it here. She loves the school, the chat with her friends during lunchtime, working at the school newspaper and most of all working on the case with Jughead after school. It takes her mind off of the never-ending hospital visits and living on medicines. She has not even dug her nails in her palms since she came to Riverdale. The only thing that makes her scared is the fact that none of her friends know how broken she is. She cannot help but think what will happen if she tells them. Will they remain as warm and friendly as they are now? She wants to tell them but past experiences stop her. She remembers when she told the truth to Trevor, a guy from her previous school, after their first date. Trevor was shocked, which was expected, but after that evening, he blocked every channel of communication with her. He did not even acknowledge her presence in school corridor from the next day. What did he think? Did he think that Betty will force him in a relationship? Betty does not know, but she knows that she was shattered after that incident. She does not want to repeat that. So, maybe it’s better this way. Maybe it’s better if her friends don’t know. They might not stop communicating with her but their behaviour towards her will surely change, they will look at her with pity and sympathy. She does not want that. She wants the normal friendship like a perfectly normal girl.

Sunday comes bright and cheery. Betty loves when it’s a sunny day for their girls’ day out. She was trying to choose between a pink long sleeve sweater and a baby blue woollen blouse when her mother knocked at the door. “Hey, Mom”, Betty greets her happily. Alice comes in with a smile, “what are you up to, honey?”

Betty decides on the blue blouse and stuffs the sweater back in the drawer, “I’m going out with Veronica for a day out, Mom. Brunch, shopping and then maybe a movie.”

Alice nods, “Please don’t miss your 8’o-clock deadline, Elizabeth. You have your phone full charged? And took your morning medicines?”

Betty replies darkly, “I never forget my medicines, Mom. You are working hard to prevent me from dying, I won’t mess that up.”

“Elizabeth…”, Alice’s voice is choking, tears in her eyes, “Don’t say that, baby. No one is dying.” 

“Maybe not _today_ ”, Betty takes her purse before leaving the room, trying to fight her own tears. She cannot let her mom see her crying. It’s not fair, she thinks. Why did it have to happen to her? Why could not she get a healthy and normal life as Polly did? She runs downstairs and opens the door. The timing could not have been more perfect. Veronica’s black Chevrolet has just come to a halt in front of her house. “Bye, Mom”, Betty shouts from the door, locking it. Veronica comes out of her car, pulling Betty into a warm hug, “Good morning B!”

Veronica already told her that Riverdale has no good shopping mall so they will go to Greendale, a neighbouring town. It’s just about 20 minutes’ drive from Riverdale. And Veronica is right. The shopping mall in Greendale is nice. It has quite a range of brand stores. Veronica is all too excited seeing Gucci opened their store here. Betty laughs at her enthusiasm with shopping.

They were in a clothing store when Veronica shoots the question, “So, spill it girl.”

Betty is confused, “What?” Veronica measures her, narrowing her eyes, “What’s with you and Jughead?”

Betty can feel the blush rising to her cheeks but she ignores that, “Nothing, V. We are friends, we are working together. That’s it.” Veronica looks at her for another minute before asking casually, “Do you want more than that?”

Betty feels her whole body getting hot. She does not know how to answer that. Does she want Jughead to be her boyfriend? Yes, she does, obviously. But he does not even know about her condition. Even Veronica does not know. So, Betty tries to avoid the question and distract Veronica with exclamation, “hey!! they have 50% off on summer dresses!” It seems to work perfectly. The girl’s head snaps in the direction of the summer dress collection and she happily walks toward it. Betty sighs in relief.

Veronica chooses at least 5 dresses for herself before forcing Betty to try a mustard colored floral dress. The dress is nice. But Betty does not feel like buying it. It’s not like she is going on a date, ever. Also, her medicines are expensive. Her mother is working hard in Riverdale Register to pay for them. So, she does not want the hard-earned money to spend on a dress. She tries to reason with Veronica, “I don’t need a new dress, V. There’s no upcoming occasion also.” But the raven-haired girl is stubborn enough to simply blow her off, “Oh come on, B! You don’t need occasion for a new dress. Besides, you never know when somebody asks you out and you need a perfect outfit for the date.”

She goes to try the dress just to avoid arguing with her best friend. But the dress looks so good on her! She thinks in her head, how will Jughead like this, and scolds herself immediately for that stupid thought. But she cannot stop arguing with Veronica when she pays for all the dresses with her credit card, “No, V. I cannot take that. Please let me pay.” Veronica waves her hands, dismissing her, “You are my best friend, B. I can always gift you a dress.” Her eyes burn, this girl just declared her as best friend. But she is keeping secrets from her, from all of her friends. She is not worth of their trust.

The rest of the day passes like a dream. They have brunch at a Thai place. They shop for purse, scented candles and fresh scones. They watch a movie at the small theater. All too perfect. Veronica insisted to drop her at the doorstep but she wanted to enjoy the cool evening breeze. So, she asks to be dropped at a crossing from where the way to Veronica’s house is on the left and her house will be a 15 mins walk towards the right.

She was walking peacefully, lost in her favorite soundtrack on her headphone, enjoying the almost empty streets and cool air when the sixth sense alerted her. Stopping abruptly, she looked behind. There is a man, wearing a black mask and black outfit almost camouflaged in the dark, standing some feet behind her, beside a bush. Her heart rate increases immediately. She does not know when she started to run. Just like she does not know when she saw the Pop’s neon sign and went straight for the door, crashed in a booth, whole body shaking, breathless. She must have called Jughead at some point, because just as Pop Tate gives her a glass of water, with worries written all over the old man’s face, Jughead rushes through the front door and comes straight to her.

He holds her in his arms and she sobs uncontrollably against his jacket. “Hey, it’s alright. You are alright”, he runs his fingers in small circles on her back, trying to soothe her. She does not know how much time passed before she could regain her composure and pulled back to look at him. She mumbles, “Thanks”. His eyes are soft, full with concern, “what happened?” She repeats the whole incident, horrified, “Do you think it was the killer?” She almost whispers when she finishes her story. Jughead looks shocked with the whole thing, his jaw clenched, “I don’t know, Betty. Why on earth will he come after you?” Then he shakes his head and pulls her up from the seat, “We can talk about that later. Let’s get you to your home first.” She follows him to his motorcycle.

Minutes later when they pull up at her doorstep, she still has not missed her 8-o’clock curfew. But as she gives him the helmet back with hands trembling, he touches her arm gently and asks, “Are you okay?” His voice, that concerned look on his face, his touch, all these make some magical connection and her hands automatically goes to cradle his neck, his hands come to hold her by her waist and before any of them could actually process what is happening, their lips are pressed together. It feels so right, so tender, full of emotions, full of love. The world stops at that moment. It almost feels like magic. There are no medicines, no hospital visits, no looming threat of a serial killer, no possibilities of death.

The reality hits Betty when they pull apart a little for air, both smiling softly. Before he can lean in for another kiss, Betty stops him with her palms on his chest, “No, Jug.” His smile disappears, the look on his face changes to a mix of hurt and embarrassment, he murmurs, “I’m sorry, Betty. I thought you feel the same way…” Betty cuts him, nodding reassuringly, “I do. I really like you.”

Now his look changes to confused, “Then why…?” He looks at her questioningly. Betty looks away from his gaze. It is now. She has to tell him now. She cannot let him do this without him knowing what he is getting himself into. Slowly, arranging her thoughts as clearly as possible, she looks back at him, “I have a condition, Jug. You don’t know how broken I am. When you will know that, you won’t want to stay.” His hands tighten around her waist, a look of determination crosses his face, “Well, try me.” She sighs a little. Maybe this is the end.

Looking away from him again, she continues, “I was diagnosed with Congenital heart defect 2 years back. I had symptoms of breathlessness and tiredness for a long time, but my dad always dismissed them saying that I just wanted to avoid physical exercise. I have issues with my heart muscles, it’s not as effective in blood pumping as everyone else’s. My life is full of never-ending doctor visits and changing medicines, Jug, just to keep my heart working somehow. I have an expiry date. I don’t know when, but I definitely know that it’s not far away in time.”

She does not how many moments of silence passed between them. It was like the quiet before the storm. Or, after. She could not force herself to look at him. She was dreading every moment for a mumbling “sorry” and then him walking away from her, forever. That’s when the realization hits her how much she has fallen for this blue-eyed, raven-haired boy that she cannot even think about taking one more breath if he leaves her. But when he spoke finally, he sounded more confident than ever, “I don’t care.”

She looks up at him, confused, it’s not generally a response when someone shares the news of their illness. He realized that and corrected himself quickly, “I’m not going anywhere, Betty. I’m here for you and I will be, always, and forever. Nothing you can say or do can change my mind. I love you, Betty Cooper. I love all of you. We all have expiry dates and I don’t care if your date is earlier than mine, we will make every moment of it worth living, together.”

One of his hands comes up to her back, holding her close. She does not know when tears started flowing through her cheeks. All she can think that he _loves_ her, he just promised to be there for her even after knowing everything. This is the most perfect moment she could have ever asked for. Why can’t the world just end right now while everything is still beautiful and flawless? He brushes away her tears with small strokes of his thumb.

She manages to whisper, “I am the reason my parents had that fight, Jug. I am the reason they separated.”

He continues holding her to his chest, “Shh…none of this is your fault, okay? Don’t you dare to feel guilty for something that’s not your fault.”

She shakes her head, “I’m not worth it, Jug. I don’t deserve you.”

He holds her by shoulders at arm’s distance, looks straight in her eyes, “Well, that’s for me to decide. You don’t know your worth, Betty. You are the smartest, sweetest, bravest and most beautiful human being I have ever met in my life.”

She shakes her head while trying to stop her tears,” I’m neither brave, nor beautiful, Jug.” She opens her palms for Jughead to see, this is the first day after coming to Riverdale she has dug her nails in the palms when she panicked. Jughead looks down at the crescent shaped bloody scars in her palms, kisses them gently without saying anything and pulls her close again.

She wraps her hands around him, rests her head on his chest and let the tears fall. After sometime, she pulls back, looking at his lips. He leans in instantly, pressing his lips against hers. Before getting lost in the kiss she smiles against his mouth, “Jughead Jones, I love you.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Betty cannot stop grinning since last evening. Alice did not question, but Betty felt her scrutinizing gaze on her. She scolds herself for smiling constantly like an idiot, but giggles the next moment at a simple “ **Good morning** ” text from Jughead. She takes more time than usual choosing her dress today. She takes more time looking at herself in the mirror. Finally, when she comes downstairs, ready for school, pouring a bowl of milk and serials for breakfast, there is a knock at the front door. She jumps a little, then goes for the door immediately, her heart thumping against her chest. Jughead is waiting outside, in his usual Sherpa jacket and jeans, with his bag slinging over his shoulder. Her heart skips a beat at his smile, “Hey there, Juliet. I thought maybe we can walk to school, together?” She blushes a little, yesterday evening has provided a whole new meaning to ‘ _together’_.

They were walking to school in complete silence for last 5 minutes and Betty cannot help but feel a little nervous. The magical bubble that wrapped them in the dark seems to be vanishing in the hard daylight. Was all of that a dream? She was almost on the verge of digging her nails in her palms again. Just then, his hand finds hers, their fingers interlace. He looks at her, smiling, she looks at him, beaming. Everything around them falls into place. They can only feel each other. It does not matter how many people are there. It does not matter what anybody is saying or doing. Their eyes meet, both full of love and happiness, and they get lost into each other. Nothing else matters anymore.


	3. This is a bigger game

Having a period off on Tuesday proved to be really entertaining for the group. They sat in the student lounge, idly, discussing anything and everything. Veronica casually wrapped her arms around Archie’s shoulders. Betty cannot help but imagine being that close to Jughead, they have not told their friends yet, not sure how to tell what they have. But it feels nice thinking of being close to him, may be leaning on his shoulder while having casual conversation with their friends. She let out an audible sigh, unknowingly, making the other three look at her.

“What, B, are you jealous of me and Archiekins?” Veronica asks, teasing. Jughead chuckles sheepishly, before putting a handful of chips into his mouth. Betty goes crimson red, she almost stutters in embarrassment, “V! s-stop.” The raven-haired girl shrugs, “You know Bettykins, you can always find a handsome date. I bet Ben from our class has a huge crush on you.”

“Oh, this is going to be _really_ interesting”, Jughead sounds amused. Betty glares at him.

“Nah…he’s kinda complicated, man! I don’t understand half of the things he says.”, Archie interjects. Jughead laughs out loud, “That’s because you have no idea about the survivalists, Arch!”

“The _what_ now?” Archie asks, dumbfounded.

“Anyways…my point is”, Veronica interrupts them, “B should find herself a date.” Archie chirps in, “I can ask Reggie. He will be more than happy, you know.”

“I kinda prefer Ben over Reggie for her”, Jughead comments in an overtly innocent tone.

“And why is that, Mr Holden Caulfield?” Veronica raises an eyebrow, clearly enjoying the topic.

“Can you all stop talking about me like I’m not right here?” Betty says, cheeks still flushed from all the discussions and Jughead’s playful face.

Veronica might not have ended this conversation so easily, but to Betty’s relief Kevin comes rushing to them at this point, panting a little, “they have found another body.”

“What, when?” Jughead straightens up promptly. Kevin explains, “Well, this morning, but the medical examiner thinks that he has been dead for at least 36-48 hours.” Betty’s hand clutches Jughead’s thigh instantly and his hand squeezes her shoulder in response, both thinking about the murder being taken place on Sunday evening when Betty saw that mysterious man. None of them notice the surprised expressions of Archie and Veronica at their hands. Kevin seems the only one ignoring their closeness as he goes on, “but here comes the most shocking news, the victim is, Malachi.” Veronica scoffs softly,” okay, that is _definitely_ not the most shocking news”. But all three ignore her completely and run towards the ‘Blue and Gold’ office.

“Okay, what does this mean?” Betty asks once they are in the office, she feels clueless. Jughead pulls off his grey beanie, raking his hand through his thick black hair, leaning against a desk, “honestly, I have no idea.” Kevin says, “We were expecting Malachi to be the mastermind behind all these”, sounding visibly upset as if he really wanted to go with that theory.

“Where did they find the body, Kev?” Betty asks after a few moments of silence.

Kevin, for some reason, looks uncomfortable, “um..you know, inside Fox forest, near the jogger’s track. He actually looked like sleeping from a little distance.”

“And how exactly do you know that last part?” Jughead asks pointedly. Kevin freezes for a moment. Then he looks away, “I happen to be the one discovering the body”, he says not meeting their gaze. Betty and Jughead exchange a startled look.

“You…what were you doing at Fox forest in a school morning?” Betty asks, feeling both curious and sceptical.

“Jesus Betts! You are not my Mom!” Kevin snaps in a very ‘non-Kevin’ manner and storms out of the room. Betty feels too shocked to be hurt by his behavior. When she looks at Jughead, she can feel that he is also taken aback by the way Kevin reacted. But he shrugs, “Leave him alone for some time, Betty. It’s not your fault”, as if sensing Betty’s urge to run after Kevin and say sorry even if she is not sure what she did wrong.

“How do you always read my mind?” Betty asks, pleasantly surprised.

“I know you too well, Cooper”, Jughead smirks. Betty feels a familiar warmth washing through her body as she walks over to him and rests her head on his shoulder, feeling that is the most natural thing to do after whatever just happened. Jughead pulls her a little closer, pressing a kiss on her forehead. It feels a blissful eternity before they hear a noise at the door and jump apart.

To both their surprise, they see Cheryl Blossom standing at the door, the red outfit perfectly highlighting her flawless figure. Her face is a mix of a range of emotions. But when she speaks, it seems like she is disgusted, “Eww, you two! Get a room!”

Jughead shots back, annoyed, “In case you did not notice Cheryl, we are already in a room. The question is why are _you_ in our room?”

Betty expected a fierce reply from Cheryl. But Cheryl does not press that matter, she says in a matter-of-fact voice, “Malachi had a video of my JJ doing drug and other stupid things. I was at White Wyrm to pay money for that video and get that back.”

Jughead says, tone laced with sarcasm, “And you are telling this to us because you think we suspect you for Malachi’s murder?”

“What? Malachi is dead?” Cheryl’s reaction made it clear that she did not know this news.

“Well, being murdered usually ends up in being dead, so yes.” Jughead seems still irritated from Cheryl’s earlier remark.

Betty touches his arm softly to make him calm down, then she speaks to Cheryl in a very soft voice, “I’m so sorry for your brother, Cheryl. And thank you for the information about the video. That means a lot.”

Cheryl shakes her head, “TT told me that you were looking into Malachi’s dirty deals. So, I thought I should help you, you know, to avenge JJ.” Betty could not stop herself from asking, “Who’s TT?” Cheryl has a glint of light in her eyes with this question, she says affectionately, “That’s my girlfriend, Toni. you know her, right?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, let me get this straight, one of my best friends is having a relationship with Cheryl drama-queen Blossom and Kevin is roaming around Fox forest on a goddamn school morning discovering Malachi’s dead body. None of this makes any sense”, Jughead practically gobbles down half his chocolate milkshake. Betty cannot control her laugh at how cute he looks with the thick cream left on his lips. She leans a little to brush it off with her thumb, when the unmistakable voice of Veronica comes behind them, “That’s it!! You two need to do some explaining. Right the hell NOW!!”

Jughead mutters under his breath, “Wow! Could the day get any better?”

Betty can feel her best friend’s analyzing gaze on both of them as she and Archie sit opposite to them. Archie gives a nod, “Hey Jug, Betty”, to which Jughead replies briefly, “hey man”.

Veronica narrows her eyes to them and makes a hand gesture that clearly says “start talking”. Betty shifts in her seat uncomfortably. She does not really know what to tell them. So, she simply says, “Uh..yeah, we may have had a moment?”

Veronica snorts, “Girl! What you guys did back in the student lounge takes more than a moment to happen!”

What did they do? Both Betty and Jughead look at each other questioningly and then all of a sudden, it hits them what she is talking about, “shit!”

Veronica says, examining her perfectly manicured nails, “Well, yeah. So what, you guys are a like thing now?”

“A thing?”, Jughead rolls his eyes. Veronica says curtly, “Okay Jug, then answer me this, are you Betty’s boyfriend?” Betty can see a blush raising to Jugheads cheek from his neck and she finds it purely adorable. She decides to step in so that Jughead does not feel more embarrassed than he already is, “Yeah V. He is.”

Veronica gasps audibly and looks at Archie. Archie just shrugs and winks at Jughead, “Congrats bud! Finally, you got your girl!” Jughead smiles back at him, “Yeah. I guess I did.” Veronica shrieks with excitement, “We can totally go on double dates now!!” Jughead groans in frustration, “Oh no!!”

Betty looks around her, Veronica is making a face at Jughead, Archie is laughing, Jughead is mocking Veronica and her heart fills with joy. These are the best friends she never thought she would have in her life. Well, them and her amazing boyfriend, who she is falling in love with a little more every day, if that’s even possible. She lets her head rest on Jughead’s shoulder and easily falls back into their conversation.

The text from Kevin comes late at night, “ **Sorry Betty. I overreacted. Talk to u tomorrow?** ” Betty feels like a weight is lifted from her shoulders, she replies back immediately, “ **Sure Kev. Sorry if I overstepped before**.” And with that she goes to sleep, light-hearted and cheery, not knowing what is going to happen the next day.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While Kevin was apologizing to Betty and explaining how he goes for an early morning jog to Fox forest every day in hope to find some cute guy to hook up with, Jughead was working on the murderboard in the Blue and Gold office. He was trying to connect the dots with whatever connection they have found between the victims till now. Malachi’s murder has already proved that their earlier theory was wrong. But it’s still something drugs related. Cheryl’s words ring in his ears, Malachi had a video of Jason doing drugs and other stuff that Cheryl had to get from him in exchange for money. What if he was blackmailing other people too, threatening to expose some shady deals? Maybe Penny was helping him. But that does not explain the murder of Midge or Mr. Peterson. Midge was doing drugs, sure, but she could not possibly have been involved in blackmailing. Mr Peterson’s case is more confusing, he did not even have drugs in his system. Jughead sighs deeply and goes back to sit on the chair, going through all the coroner’s reports once again. He gets lost in the reports and files for a long time.

A girl’s voice snaps him back to reality. He sees the curly haired girl with a maroon ribbon standing in front of him with some papers in her hands. He exhales sharply, “what do you want, Ethel?”

She beams up and says with a nervous chuckle, “Hi, Jughead”.

After almost a minute passed, with no further response from Ethel, he arches his brows quizzically at her, “yes, Ethel?”

Ethel quickly extends one piece of paper to him, “here, I have written a love poem”, and blushes hard. He tries to make sense of whatever she just said as he takes the paper from her, “You did _what_?”

Her voice trembles as she answers and her hands start shaking a bit, “I..I just wrote it for you…no I mean for the paper. Yes. For the paper.”

Still not able to process the whole scenario, he repeats, “you wrote a love poem for Blue and Gold?” He did not mean to sound harsh, but the whole idea of publishing a love poem in a school newspaper seems so ridiculous that he could not hide the annoyance in his voice, “you know we never publish a poem in the paper, right?”

Ethel starts to tear up at his reaction, her whole face goes red, she starts rambling, “I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it...” , she started making her way back to the door when she hits one desk and something falls on the floor from her grasp. He reaches for it but folds his hands in shock, recognizing the wrapper, “Oh my God Ethel!! Jingle-jangle? You are doing drugs?”

She looks terrified now, “Oh no no no…this is not what you think. I need to go…I will just go.” With that she grabs that wrapper and stumbles towards the door, she is gone before he can stop her.

Jughead is beyond shocked. He never expected that hard drugs like jingle-jangle are so easily available now that an absolute nerd and innocent girl like Ethel can just take it in the middle of a school day. The whole thought is terrifying. The more he thought about it, the more his gaze focussed to a single name on the board, Hiram Lodge.

He repeats this whole incident to Kevin and Betty when they came to the Blue and Gold office after class. After he finished, Kevin says, excited, “You owe me 20 bucks, Jughead Jones.”

“Why on earth?”

“Because, Dr Strange, I told you years ago that this Ethel girl is so much into you. And I was right, as always.”

“ _That_ is what you are taking from this story?” Jughead rolls his eyes.

Betty asks, sounding a little irritated, “who is this Ethel?”

“Oh you did not meet Ethel? She is not in any of your class though…”, Kevin starts but then his phone beeps. Before any of them can ask any question, he mouths, “goodbye sweeties” and runs out the door.

Jughead grumbles, frustrated, “what’s with him anyways?”

Betty walks over to him, takes off his beanie and runs her fingers through his hair, “who is Ethel and why did not you tell me about her?”

“What’s there to tell you?” Jughead seems a little surprised, but then his voice changes to amused,” Betty Cooper, are you being jealous right now?”

Betty shakes her head, continuing to run her fingers in his hair, “why will I be jealous? You are my boyfriend, not hers.”

Jughead smirks a little before pulling her by waist and kissing her lips softly. Her hands come to cup his cheeks on both sides. It feels so calming, heavenly, just then Betty gasps. Jughead pulls back a little to see her face, “what?” Betty whisper shouts, “the phone, Jug!”

“Wow! That’s what you are thinking about in the middle of our moment?” Jughead cannot help but smile.

“No Jug”, she grabs his arm, “remember how we were discussing the items found on the victims? Well, there’s one thing missing from Malachi. His phone.”

“That’s…odd”, he nods, absentmindedly.

Betty is in the front of the screen in a minute. She takes out her phone to retrieve Malachi’s number and starts typing at high speed on the computer.

-“Um..Betts…what are you doing?”

-“Trying to locate his phone’s location”

-“Do you really think the killer has left the phone on for us to find?”

-“No, Jug, but even the last location, before the killer switched off the phone, will do.”

-“And why do you think that location is any different than the location of Malachi’s body, Ms Nancy Drew?”

“Because, it is”, Betty twirls the computer screen to his direction to show, with a triumphant smile on her face, “ta-da!!!”

The screen displays the last location of the phone number in a map. Jughead’s jaw drops, “it’s inside sweetwater river!!!” He places a kiss on Betty’s cheeks, “You are genius, you know that?”

Betty giggles, “Now we tell Sheriff Keller?” He agrees, “We tell him. We also need to talk to..”, she completes,” Ethel.”

Jughead sighs, “Yes, Ethel. But there is another link we need to follow.” Betty looks at him questioningly.

Jughead looks back at the top name in the murderboard, “you need to talk to Ronnie.”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Interrogating her best friend, while she invited her for a sleepover on Friday so happily, was not Betty’s idea of a perfect weekend. But she needs to do it anyways. If Hiram Lodge is running drugs in the town, it is very much possible that he is connected to the murders somehow. So, Betty packs her overnight bag, says goodbye to her mother and gets into the car Veronica has sent to pick her up with a false smile plastered on her face.

Veronica shrieks with joy and comes running to her, hugging her tightly, “B!!! finally we are having sleepover!!” then adds, “put your phone on silent right now. I don’t want Mr Holmes disturbing our girl time.” Betty narrows her eyes in pseudo offense, “what about _your_ Mr. biceps?”

“I have strictly instructed Archiekins not to call or message tonight. Tonight, is exclusive for my bestie”, Veronica gestures to follow her to the luxurious bedroom.

Betty is already feeling bad. But she has to do this for the sake of their investigation. Exhaling heavily, she sends a message to her mom telling her she is safe and reached Veronica’s. The second message is to Jughead confirming that she is with Veronica and meet with him tomorrow.

In the next couple of hours, Betty almost forgets that she is actually there to gather information, not enjoy the girls’ night. After they are done with all the gossips, exchanging the experiences of first kiss, Betty’s current love life, Pussycat’s upcoming performance, Archie’s new song, Betty proposes a game of 20 questions. Veronica agrees immediately, grabbing a fancy tea set from kitchen and pouring them both some expensive herbal tea, she settles down, “Let’s start, B”

Betty starts with normal “favorite vacation spot” and “travel song playlist”. At the end of their game, both girls exhausted and yawning, they go to bed. Veronica falls asleep in minutes. But in spite of being exhausted, Betty cannot sleep. She has learnt a disturbing “totally confidential” information from Veronica that she needs to tell Jughead. She was waiting a little more to make sure that Veronica is deep in sleep, her phone’s screen lights up, Jughead calling. She picks up the phone and tiptoes outside closing the door softly behind her. There’s a staircase leading up to Mr. Lodge’s office, thinking the office will be empty, she slowly starts climbing the stairs and accepts the call, “did you find anything?” she whispers.

“Hey beautiful”, Jughead says with his usual smirk, “Hello to you too.” She cannot help but smile, “It’s past midnight. Did you call me because you missed me?”

“Actually, this is a strict business call, Cooper. You won’t believe the information I got.”

“Me, too. But you first”

“Ethel just told that her first contact for getting jingle-jangle was Mr Peterson. And after my research I can confirm that he was indeed heading the drug dealing in southside before Malachi.”

“Wow!! That’s really big, Jug. Now we know that they were all connected via drug business or dealing”, Betty starts excited and then narrows her eyes, “what are you doing with Ethel after midnight?”

“I was not able to… _what_?” Jughead’s startled voice comes over phone, then his soft laughter, “I talked to Ethel in school, Betts, after class. Not only Ethel, I talked to few other people after she gave me their names. But I promised anonymity to all of them. Now tell me your news”

Betty was about to reply when she hears muffled voices from Mr Lodge’s office. “I will call you later”, disconnecting the call she presses her ears against the office door.

“I want to know what is happening.”

“You don’t need to know anything, Claudius. I am managing it in my way.”

“Well, your way is sure not enough, we lost enough business”

“You have no choice but to believe me”

“Maybe I should consult the St Clair’s…what.. what are you doing?”

As the voice panics, Betty quickly turns to peep through the narrow opening at the side of the door. And she freezes. There are two people inside the room. She can recognize Mr Lodge. He is pointing a gun at the other man’s forehead, execution style.

Betty does not know how she managed to sneak back to Veronica’s room. As she slides under the covers, Veronica stirs, “B? where were you?”

“I went to the kitchen to get some water”, Betty hopes the shakiness of her voice does not give her away. But Veronica simply nods and falls back asleep. Betty closes her eyes shut trying not to think about whatever she just witnessed and praying there’s not another dead body in the morning.


	4. Mystery Untangled

The morning comes, not with a dead body, but with an angry Veronica waking her up, ranting, “I don’t know what Jug thinks I did to you, B. But he is right outside Pembrooke waiting on the road in his god-awful beanie and demanding his girlfriend back.”

“What?” was all Betty could mumble before she actually remembers that she disconnected their call last night without any explanation or any message later, “shit!!”

Veronica eyes her suspiciously, “I thought you messaged him before you put the phone on silent?” “No,V. I forgot”, Betty lies through her teeth and gets up quickly. She grabs her phone from the nightstand and of course, there are 10 missed calls and hundreds of messages. She feels extremely guilty now.

Jughead was leaning against his motorcycle in front of the deluxe building of The Pembrooke, Veronica’s residence. Betty walks up to him with an apologetic look in her face, “I’m sorry Juggie. I’m really sorry. But you know…”

Jughead does not let her finish, with a stormy look in his blue eyes, he reaches for her and pulls her into a bone-crushing hug, “Hey, are you okay?” Immediately Betty’s body melts into his and her heart fills with affection, “I am, Jug. Now, do you want to hear the news?”

Pulling back a little, Jughead meets her gaze. Stroking his arm softly, Betty says, “Hiram Lodge is planning to run for the Mayor.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

None of them was really able to understand what Hiram Lodge’s run for Mayor has to do with the murders. But as per the conversation Betty overheard that night it seems he is definitely associated with the drug business.

“What was the other man’s name, you said?” Jughead was doodling something in a piece of paper and sipping coffee. Kevin was lost in his phone. Betty replied, “I did not. His name was Claudius, I think”.

Both the boy’s heads snap to her direction immediately.

“Claudius Blossom?” Kevin raises his eyebrows. Now it’s Betty’s turn to be shocked,” Blossom? As in Cheryl Blossom?”

Kevin quickly gives her an overview of Blossom family tree saying Claudius and Clifford Blossom are twins and while Clifford took over the family maple business and built a family in Riverdale, Claudius was gone to join the army and never married. He returned last year and now living in the Blossom mansion itself.

Betty was already shaken by the image of Hiram Lodge pointing a gun at a man, now the idea of that man being Cheryl’s own uncle almost terrified her. Sensing her discomfort Jughead placed a hand on her back, rubbing her shoulders to release the tension. From all the facts they have gathered, it seems Hiram and Claudius might be involved in drug business. But why they will kill their own dealers, that is a pressing question. Or, it could be a rival businessman. But Riverdale is a small town, what are the chances that two separate business owners will start dealing drugs at the same time? Sheriff Keller has already started working on Malachi’s phone record retrieval. It will take a few days but the last call record should shed some light on the mystery. Malachi’s body was found in Fox Forest, what was he doing there? The last call might let them know if he went there on business, maybe to meet the business rival.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Betty cannot remember if she forgot one of her tablets because halfway through the chemistry lab, she suddenly feels breathless and a bit nauseous. She tries to stand up when a numbing pain in left side almost paralyzes her. She loses control and tries to hold onto something to prevent the fall, through blurry vision she can see Jughead running towards her, muffled voices of their teacher and friends echo in her ears before she loses all her senses. 

He was cursing himself, drown in guilt, he always asks her if she has taken her meds in the morning but today, he forgot. And that ended in her being admitted to ICU. Alice was sitting in a chair in the waiting room. Jughead was pacing the room impatiently. It’s been an hour since Betty got admitted to the hospital. Nobody in the school knew about her condition except Jughead and Principal Weatherbee. He was thinking back to the Chemistry lab. He was partnered with Archie and was taking some measurements. He glanced up and saw Betty trying to stand. But she lost balance in a moment and started falling, he ran to her, she fell in his arms, unconscious. A sense of pure dread ran through his spine. The first thing he did was to check her pulse. Their friends were all clueless, but the teacher was quick to call the principal. Veronica rode in the ambulance with Betty, himself and Archie came by his motorbike. All the scenes were playing in slow motion in his head when he heard Alice Cooper calling for him, “Jughead, come here. Sit.”

He was really not ready to sit. His nerves are on edge and pacing at least giving him some distraction. But he obliged and went to sit beside her. Alice touched his shoulders gently, giving them a squeeze, “Don’t worry Jughead. She will be fine. She is a fighter.” He was at loss of words so he just nods, feeling a lump in his throat. Veronica and Archie are sitting on the other side of the room, Veronica’s eyes glistening with tears, Archie is trying to comfort her.

It seemed a long time before the doctor came and asked to speak to Mrs Cooper, informing them that Betty is fine now. It was a mild heart attack. Considering her heart condition, it is always a possible threat. The doctor went through all her medical records and changed a couple of medicines. There is nothing wrong with her at this moment. She will be able to go home tomorrow.

After the doctor left, Alice went to see her daughter. Archie and Veronica left saying Betty probably needs rest now, they will come in the evening visiting hours. Jughead could not bring himself to go home. He sat there idly, too tired to even think of anything. He was grateful that he has not lost her already, but also terrified at the thought of ever losing her this abruptly. They still have so much things to do, so much stories to tell each other. He was lost in his thoughts when Alice came back and asked him to go meet Betty. Initially he did not understand her, the visitor’s hour is already over.

Alice smiled and spoke softly, “I know visitor’s hour is over, but she wants to see you. I talked to the nurse. She agreed to allow you for five minutes.” Jughead could barely thank her before running into Betty’s cabin.

She is laying on the bed, in her light blue hospital gown. Her golden hair loosely spread around a tired but angelic face. She heard his footsteps and looked at him, gorgeous green eyes full of sadness. It ached his heart to see her this sad, he went to sit beside her bed and held her hand in his. She sighs and her lips tremble, “I am sorry, Juggie.” Tears threaten to spill from her eyes. He presses her palm in between his, “What are you sorry for, Betts?” A stray tear leaves her eyes, “I will never be normal. You don’t want this. You deserve better.”

“Let me stop you right there, Betty Cooper. I know what I want. I want you.” He brushes away her tear with his thumb.

“I am a mess, Jug. Look at me. Your life will be confined in hospital cabins accompanying me. I cannot do that. I cannot hold you back.” Her voice is so low, it’s barely a whisper.

“Hold _me_ back?” he lets out a chuckle, “Betty, I don’t care where I am as long as I am with you.”

“No.” She shakes her head, “I don’t want your pity”

“What are you talking about? You know I love you..”, but before he could finish, she jerks her hand away from his and turns to the opposite side of bed. A moment later her voice comes, thick with tears, “Please go.”

The nurse comes at this precise moment and tells him that the time is over. He has to resist the urge to grab her hand and make her face him, brush away her tears and kiss her on forehead, assure her everything is going to be okay. Instead, he exhales sharply and leaves the room without looking back.

Why she has to ruin everything? Why cannot she have a normal time enjoying high school for once in her life? She just snapped at the one person she wanted to give the world to. The one person who has always been supportive of her, loved her unconditionally. She pushed him away when all she really wanted to do was bury herself into his chest and cry her heart out.

The evening visiting hour just started. Archie and Veronica appear on her cabin door with an enthusiastic Kevin. “B, I love you”, is all Veronica says hugging her best friend. Kevin chirps, “Wow Betty! Looking cool in blue”. She cannot help but smile. Archie squeezes her shoulder, “Hey you alright now?” She lets out a sigh, “Yeah. Thanks guys. I know I did not tell you all about this…”, she bites her bottom lip, “condition.”

“It’s okay B, really”, Veronica insists. Then with a mischievous smile she adds, “The most important person of your life already knew, so it’s really okay.”

She sighs again. _Yeah, the most important person, whom she snapped at without any apparent reason._

The trio leaves after some idle chitchat. Betty was expecting the next visitor to be her mother. But she looked up to see the pair of blue eyes and gorgeous smile she has fallen for last few months. He is holding a bunch of lilies, knowing it is her favorite flower. Her heart sinks. _How could she get so lucky?_

“Juggie”, she inhales sharply, “you came back.” He frowns, “What do you mean? I never left.”

“What?” she asks confused.

“It was the end of visiting hour, Betts. I went to the canteen to grab some food and called Archie to get the flowers on his way here. So, yes, I was here only.” He paused for a moment before adding, “And I will always be.”

“Why? Why did not you leave? I pushed you away”, she starts to tear up.

He moves closer to the bed, put the flowers on the nightstand and places a soft kiss on her forehead, “Because I meant what I said to you, Betty. You can never say or do anything to make me leave.”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Betty and Jughead were sitting in Blue & Gold office, going through some writings to be published in next edition when Kevin comes with the news of Malachi’s phone records.

“It’s weird”, he starts, “It’s really weird.”

“What is?” Jughead interrupts knowing how long Kevin can drag on the opening statement if not stopped.

“The last call of Malachi”, Kevin pauses, trying to read the expression on his friends. When none of them tells anything, he continues, “The last incoming call was from Claudius Blossom.”

“How is that weird?” Betty asks puzzled, “We know Claudius was doing business with Hiram Lodge. Malachi was their dealer. So, it was a business deal.”

“That is what, Betty, that is what”, Kevin shakes his head, maintaining the drama and suspense.

Jughead’s patience finally gives away as he snaps, “Oh come on Kevin. What is it?”

Kevin holds his hands up in surrender and says, “Claudius Blossom has already been taken to the station and been questioned. He never called Malachi as per his statement. He was out of town for a business trip that day.”

“He is lying”, Jughead states, thinking, “Or…”

“Or, he has been set up to take the fall”, Betty completes.

“Somebody called him using Claudius’s number.”

“Yes. But a lot of people can clone the number and place the call.”

Kevin sits on a desk, watching the couple who continue discussing their thoughts, aloud.

“Why to set up Claudius? To remove the rival business?”

“Or, to punish him for something.”

“Punish…yes punishment. Betty, that’s it”, Jughead jumps from his seat and runs to the murder board, “that’s the connection. It’s not drug business, it’s about drug use. That’s why Midge was killed, that’s why Penny was killed. All the victims were either dealing or _using_ drugs.”

“Yes. That matches the execution style gunshot!” Betty exclaims. They both look at each other with excited faces and speaks at the same time, “It’s a vigilante!”

“Wow!! The detective duo! I ship it”, Kevin says, amused. Both give him a dirty look.

Jughead sighs, “We don’t know who did it, yet.”

“Maybe, we know”, Betty walks over to the desk, “the file says, there were boot prints in Malachi’s crime scene because of rain in previous night. Does the print match to Claudius?”

Kevin shakes his head, “That has been sent to the labs for confirmation.”

“It will match”, Betty says with a smirk.

“What?” Kevin asks, perplexed, “Did not you two just establish that it is _not_ Claudius?”

“It’s not Claudius, but the boot prints will match because it will be the exact same size. Two people can have same size boots, Kev.”

“It’s Clifford Blossom, his twin”, Jughead gasps, eyes wide.

Betty smiles with a nod and goes on explaining, “See, everything matches. All puzzle pieces fall into place. Claudius came back a little over a year ago. About the same time Hiram Lodge started his business in Riverdale. Two of them had this partnership from the start, it seems. The drug usage and overdose cases increased. Police were clueless. But nobody cared much until Jason Blossom died of drug overdose. We don’t know if Jason’s death was accidental overdose or intentional. He might have learnt his uncle’s dirty secrets. Either way, Jason died. Almost six months after his death, the killings started, all execution style murder, all related to drug use”. She stops for a pause before continuing, “My guess is Clifford Blossom somehow managed to know the truth behind Jason’s death and his brother’s business. The coroner might be able to tell us more about actual reason behind Jason’s death.”

When she finished, Jughead’s face is full of pride and appreciation. Kevin is looking at her with awe, jaws open. As soon as he recovered, Kevin cries, “you are indeed the real-life Nancy Drew!!” She can’t help but blush a little at the compliment.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The happy couple is on their way to Greendale. Jughead realized that he has never taken Betty to a real date after they actually became boyfriend and girlfriend. Veronica pointed out, in a very unkind way, that working for their case at Pop’s is not considered as a date, even if milkshakes are involved. So, he decided to take Betty for a real date. Betty looked thoroughly excited for the event. She dressed in a mustard coloured floral dress, with her hair in loose curls. Her blue eyes shining with enthusiasm. When he knocked at her door, with a bouquet, she opened the door and smiled at him in a way that made his heart warmer. She looked absolutely gorgeous. _How did he get to deserve this beautiful girl?_

Jughead borrowed Archie’s truck for the day. They drove through roads of Riverdale, passed the sweetwater river bridge, the scenery was nice, road with the river on one side, the forest on the other. Both sat in comfortable silence, enjoying every moment. He put one hand on her thigh, she took it in hers and interlocked their fingers, humming with the tune in radio happily.

It’s not a fancy date. Just Sunday brunch in a cosy café in Greendale. But Betty’s heart was full. They never had time to spend with each other in between their investigation and school and her doctor visits. Well, they spent time together, but it was always work. Today is different. Police have retrieved the gun and the boots from Blossom residency. Clifford Blossom confessed to the murders already. The drug business is also under investigation, the narcotics team has already taken charge. Finally, all the mysteries are over. So, Betty was content. She was looking forward to spend some quality time with her boyfriend. While going through the three-course meal for Jughead and only burger, fries and milkshake for hers, they talked non-stop. They laughed, they cuddled in the booth, they shared chaste kisses and did all the cute couple things they never been able to do in past few months.

After a couple of hours, his phone buzzed. The screen showed, Toni. He ignored the call and held his girlfriend close while continue arguing about the best classic they have read recently. But the phone buzzed again. He sighed and received it, “Toni, you better be dying.”

“Sorry to upset you, Jones”, Toni chirps, “but we have some other emergency.”

“What kind of emergency allows you to interrupt my first real date if you are not dying?” he exhales while Betty slaps him playfully on shoulder.

“We just got emails that Southside High is closing”, Toni replies, “we are going to get transferred to different schools.”

“What, why? Why is a school closing?” he straightens up immediately.

“That’s for you to find out, Jones. News has it an anonymous buyer has bought the school to shut it down”, Toni ends the call, “Good luck with your date, by the way.”

He grumbles and looks at Betty who is eagerly waiting for the details. He explains it to her and adds apologetically, “Sorry, Betts. I wanted our first date to be special. But this wicked little town never runs out of mysteries.”

“A Sunday brunch _and_ a new mystery to solve?” Betty puts her hands around his neck and pulls him down for a kiss, “sounds perfect date to me!” He smiles into the kiss, “Have more romantic words ever been spoken?”


	5. The Proposal

Betty was standing on their apartment balcony in New York, enjoying her morning caffeine, thinking back to their college days and how they ended up here. They chose to live here as this was closer to home, only a couple of hours drive. They try to visit home frequently, not only for their parents but also for their friends. Archie never moved out of Riverdale; he took over his dad’s construction business after Fred Andrews passed away in an unfortunate accident after their graduation. He also opened a community centre for under privileged kids. Veronica and Kevin both went to NYU, but decided to settle in Riverdale after College. Although Veronica has a few business establishments here, she spends most of her time in their hometown, with Archie. Kevin has joined as the English and Drama teacher in Riverdale High. Everyone is settled in their lives. Betty smiles to herself as she thinks back to the day they got reply from Yale. Yale has been the dream school for both of them. They were so scared to even open the envelopes.

_“Let’s open it together?” she said, voice shaking._

_“Yeah”, he replied._

_They opened it together. Quickly reading their letters, they looked up to each other to see the same look on other’s face, immense happiness mixed with tension. And they knew. They did not even have to confirm with each other that they got accepted. They just knew, like they knew that they would share a tiny apartment with only a bed and old wooden table in Connecticut for next four years but their heart will be content, like they knew that they would conquer any difficulties life throws their way if they are together._

_After celebrating the news with a dinner at Pop’s, they came back together to her house. Her mom was working late again that day. So, he stayed with her and they watched random movies, eating popcorn, their legs tangled under the blanket, wrapped in each other’s arms. Around midnight, he got up to leave, but she stopped him, “Stay with me tonight?”_

_He looked at her and smiled, “okay”. It was always easy decision for him, if she wanted something, he would never say “no”, he would never let her down. So, he crawled back under the blankets, she moved closer to him to lean her head on his chest. He ran his fingers through her hair and tilted her head back to kiss her on the lips. The kiss got heated pretty quick. She straddled him, ran her own fingers through his hair. He wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged her closer._

_He was kissing her neck, when she whispered, “Juggie”. He pulled back immediately,” What is it, Betts?” She looked him into the eyes, reflecting her own desire and love, “I want you tonight. I want all of you.”_

Betty is snapped out of her memories with the sound of her phone. She was irritated at first, Sunday is the only time she can go through the whole day without any phone calls. But when she looks at the screen, caller name brings a genuine smile to her lips, “Kev!!”

Kevin quips, “Betty Cooper, _the_ journalist, New York Times! How am I so lucky to get your line on first try?”

She giggles, “Shut up Kev. How are you?”

“I am good Betty. How are you? And how is our Mr. Bestseller of The great American Novel?”

She sighs, since Jughead’s first mystery novel published and made it to New York Times best seller list, Kevin and Veronica always refer to him as Mr Bestseller.

“You know, you can also refer him as Prof Jones, Kev. He took up the part-time teaching job at NYU, I told you about.”

“Teaching, writing, spending time with his beautiful girlfriend, your man is multi-talented!!” Kevin teases. She almost rolls her eyes at his cheesiness. Of course, Kevin cannot see her. He continues, “So, Betty, I wanted to call and invite you to your hometown next month.”

Now, she actually rolls her eyes, “What does that even mean?”

“I may or may not be getting married.” Kevin says trying to sound casual. But she knows better and she screams spontaneously, “OMG Kev!! You are getting married!!!”

They met Kevin’s fiancé, Joaquin when they went to Riverdale a couple of months back. He helps Archie with the community centre. They all reunited at Pop’s and chatted for long hours. It felt as if nothing changed, they are still those high schoolers from 6 years back. The fact that one of them is getting married actually feels surreal now. She congratulates Kevin and promises to be there no matter what.

Then she calls her best friend, “Vee!! Kevin is getting married!!” Veronica cries, “I know B!! Can you imagine? Our Kevin! Getting married!!” They spend almost an hour talking about the dress they are going to wear, the flower arrangement, the food and what not. When she finally disconnects the call, she can hear Jughead in the kitchen.

She finds her boyfriend making sandwich, “Hey handsome!” She wraps her arms around him from behind. He smirks before placing a kiss on her forehead, “I am guessing that was the pearl princess.” She laughs at that. Jughead and Veronica has a strong love-hate relationship, they will not miss any chance to insult each other but one will protect the other fiercely when the time comes, it’s almost like siblings. She gives him the news of Kevin’s wedding, beaming at him. He is pleasantly surprised but happy all the same. It’s not like they need an excuse to go back home, but they both have extremely busy life here, so when some happy opportunity like this comes, they welcome it with more than enough enthusiasm.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jughead knows about Kevin’s wedding for some time now. He did not tell anything to Betty because it would ruin the surprise, not only Kevin’s but also his. Last time when they went home, he talked to FP and Alice that he wanted to propose Betty, they both were over the moon. Alice cried and hugged him for such a long time that he finally was relieved to breathe again when she let go. FP gave him the ring, “It’s a family tradition, boy. Your grandma’s ring, she gave it to your mom. Your mom saved it for your bride.”

His mom never came back to Riverdale, but over the years he learnt to let go of the bitter feelings towards her. The only thing he misses is his sister, Jellybean. They talked a few times over phone when he went to college. But they never met and the last memory he has of his sister is their mom dragging a crying 10-year-old Jellybean who is screaming on top of her voice, “Juggie, save me!” He considered going to Toledo to meet her many times, but the prospect of meeting his mother was enough to kill those impulses. The ring his dad gave him is now safely hidden in a drawer in their small study, under the manuscript of his second novel.

He has thought hard about how to propose her. he wanted it to be perfect. He wanted it to be a memory for them to cherish forever. He actually discussed the place for proposal with their friends for a long time while they were at Riverdale. They met at Pop’s while Betty was helping her mom with some work at The Register.

_“Hey Jug, what’s this roundtable for?” Kevin asked. He looked at all his friends and shook his head, “Okay. I’m telling you three this. Just don’t get hyper.”_

_All three looked at him questioningly._

_He took a deep breath, “So, I am planning to propose Betty.” Veronica and Kevin squealed together instantly. He groaned, “What part of don’t get hyper, you two did not understand?”_

_“We are not hyper, it’s a normal reaction”, Kevin argued._

_Archie grinned ear-to-ear,” This is great bud! I am so happy for you.”_

_“Thanks man”, he turned to Kevin, “_ this _is normal reaction, not that.” Veronica as usual ignored everyone’s comment and waved her hand impatiently, “Ok lover boy. You want some help with the ring, right?” “Actually no”, he explained, “Dad gave me my grandmother’s ring. But I need the perfect place to propose her.”_

_“Take her to a candle-light dinner”_

_“Go to Paris and propose her on top of Eiffel tower. That is the most romantic destination.”_

_“You can propose her in your bedroom Jug and she will still say yes, you know that.”_

_All three gave their suggestions at the same time._

_“Thanks Archie, I will try not to take the bedroom thing in a creepy way. Ronnie, I’m proposing to Betty, not you. Kevin, candle-light dinner, seriously?”, he dismissed all the ideas and concluded, “besides, I plan to propose her here, in Riverdale, where our story started.” A moment of silence, then again, his friends blurted out another round of suggestions._

_“How about taking her to Fox Forest on a full moon? That feels romantic.”_

_“Where you found Malachi’s body? Thanks Kev, but no.”_

_“You can always propose her here, in Pop’s. We have many memories here.”_

_“I don’t think proposing with a burger and milkshake in front of me will be my first choice, Arch.”_

_“Why don’t you take her to the café you guys went on your first date?”_

_“That’s a great suggestion, Veronica, and trust me I would have done that if our first date had not been ended with Southside High closing.”_

_After brainstorming ideas for one more hour, they finally gave up. He went back to Cooper house still thinking about a place, a place that is meaningful to both of them. Sure, Pop’s or the café in Greendale have memories, but so does her house or his dad’s trailer. No, this needs to be a place which has some special significance in their bonding._

_As he returned to Cooper house, he found a tired Betty lying on the bed in her childhood room. He went to lie beside her, wrapping her in his arms, “Hey, you look tired.” She exhaled, “Yeah, a bit. But it was fun, helping in The Register”, with a smile she added, “Do you think we could ever come back here? Helping the high-schoolers to restart Blue & Gold maybe?” His eyes lit up at once, he straightened and started typing in his phone. _

_“Juggie, what’s wrong?” she asked, concerned. He shook his head without offering any reply and texted their friends instead, “I found the perfect place. But I need your help in planning.”_

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 

Betty was excited to attend Kevin’s wedding and get a break from her work. Kevin has decided the wedding venue to be at Picken’s Park. Other day Veronica sent her some pictures of flower arrangements and she had to choose one, same went for the cakes.

The suite in Five Seasons was really comfortable after two hours driving. They both crashed on the bed as soon as they reached there. She already informed Jughead about the dinner plan at her mother’s. Her mom invited FP also. Next day she will have all day plan with Veronica as her best friend insisted, “We need a spa and mani-pedi day, B.” They planned to meet at Archie’s, Jughead will stay back and play video games with his best friend while the girls will enjoy their day. Then all five of them have agreed to meet at Pop’s, just like old times.

Archie’s room just feels the same as it has felt for all his life. Jughead sat himself on the air mattress and picked up the remote, “Ready for the battle Arch?” “Hell, yeah”, his redhead friend responded happily.

When the girls came back, they are kicking each other and shouting on the top of their voices, eyes glued to the screen.

“You gotta stop killing me, accidentally.”

“You are the one coming in my lane.”

“Why do you need to go left now?”

“Can’t you see I’m dying, _again_?”

Veronica comes to stand in front of the screen with hands on her hips, “Enough kids! It’s time for dinner.” Betty giggles.

As soon as all of them settled in a booth at Pop’s, Kevin announces, “So, Archie and Jughead, as you both are my best man..”

“We are?” both of them say in unison, cutting him mid-sentence. Kevin huffs, “What? I requested this _long_ ago!” Jughead and Archie look at each other, unsure.

“Um…exactly how long?” Archie asks.

“In high school”, Kevin mutters.

“Wow, that’s _really_ long, Kev”, Jughead says, amused.

Veronica and Betty burst out laughing, “Really Kev? In high school? And you did not ask them when you invited them?”

“What’s there to ask? Who else will be my best man?” Kevin tries to reason.

“I don’t know, man. Maybe some creep you met in NYU?” Jughead says popping a fry into his mouth. Kevin ignores him, “Okay. So, now you know. I want you to be ready with your speech tomorrow at rehearsal dinner.”

Archie says nervously, “A speech?” At the same time Jughead grunts, “A rehearsal dinner!?” Kevin gives both of them stern look, “Yes and yes.”

Betty wakes up with raised voices from the living area of their suite. She groans and looks at the time, it’s only seven in the morning. Why Jughead is not in bed? She opens the bedroom door, curious, to find her boyfriend and best friend arguing. Veronica is holding a tuxedo and Jughead is frantically protesting against that clothing to be put on him.

“Jughead Jones, you are wearing this and you are wearing this for tonight.”

“Are you kidding me, Ronnie? This is like a thousand-dollar tuxedo for God’s sake!!”

“And you a bestseller author for God’s sake!” Veronica snaps, practically thrusting the clothes in his arms and storms off.

Seeing Betty, Jughead mutters, “Sorry. I did not want to wake you.”

“It’s okay, Jug”, she smiles, “V is all for keeping up the appearance but if you don’t want to wear it, then it’s fine. You will look handsome in anything.”

“Oh yeah?” a mischievous grin appears on his face as he comes and picks her up. She sequels at this sudden movement but wraps her hands happily around his neck, “yeah.”

He sighs heavily, “It’s not that I don’t want to wear it. But it’s far too expensive for a rehearsal dinner. It’s even fancier than my suit which I brought for the actual wedding.”

She caresses his cheek, “It does not matter, Juggie. We all have been friends for such a long time. Who is judging you for your clothes?”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It actually goes smoother than expected, both the rehearsal dinner and the wedding. The whole town was invited for the wedding. Betty was so happy to catch up with her high school friends. She has always considered Riverdale home in a sense she never considered New York. Although she spent the first sixteen years of her life in New York and now again living there, it never had a special place in her heart. Riverdale has always felt like a safe place, maybe because she met the love of her life here, maybe because she found true friends here or maybe because she experienced so many life changing events here, in this small town. The wedding ceremony was beautiful. Kevin and Joaquin read their vows. Everybody, including Jughead, had tears in their eyes. When the dance started Jughead came to her, extending his hand, “Dance with me?”

She grinned at him, “You hate dances.”

“I do. But with you, I love everything”, he was smiling but his voice had such a sincerity in it, her heart melted. They danced for a long time. Last time they danced in their senior prom, with their favorite song playing, “It will always be you”. When the same song started playing in the wedding, she was more than certain that it cannot be a coincidence.

She was feeling a little tired after the whole day. So, while her friends were all talking and having a good time in the after-wedding party, held in Five Seasons banquet, she excused herself to go lie down. She changed quickly in comfortable pajamas and went to bed only to find a note stuck on the pillow, “ _Go down to the main entrance and follow the arrows. Let’s play a game_.” She panicked for just one moment before noticing the familiar handwriting of her boyfriend. Although she is tired, she cannot ignore the temptation of a surprise.

The main entrance sure has a golden arrow point towards the pavement, there is another similar arrow pointing to the right on the pavement. She starts following the arrows, withing fifteen minutes, she is standing in front of Riverdale High, their high school. She frowns at the closed gate. Obviously, it will be closed and deserted at night. For the first time, she doubts if she has recognized the handwriting correctly. Then she sees another golden arrow pointing to the left from the gate. She sighs heavily, of course the handwriting was his. The series of arrows leads her to an open window this time, a post-it note tucked at the frame, “ _Jump inside. Follow the arrows_.” Exhaling again, she jumps inside. This time she follows the signs to an empty but eerily familiar hallway. The last sign points to a wooden door in the hallway, the door to Blue & Gold office. Another post-it note on the door says, “ _We met here for the first time. I fell in love with you in this room. From the first time I saw you in this room, I knew that it will always be you._ ” She cries while reading the note. The door is not locked, so she pushes it open. There on the main desk, a blue velvet box is sitting, in the middle a decoration of candles and rose petals. Her heart beats faster, she knows what it is. Or, does she? Is it real or it’s happening in her dreams?

She opens the box to find the diamond ring, her tears are now out of control. His deep voice comes from behind her, “Betty Cooper.” She spins around and hugs him tightly, burying her head into his chest, repeating “Yes, yes, yes”, even before he asked the question. He uses his index finger to lift her chin to lock eyes with her, “Yes?” She smiles through her tears, “It will always be yes for you.”


	6. Decisions to make

“You need to wake up, Juggie”, Betty says, playing with her husband’s hair. He does not show any intention to move. She smiles and shakes his shoulders, “We are going to be late.” He opens one eye, through his messy locks hanging on forehead.

“Why am I expected to attend this _thing_ again?” He murmurs, grumpily. She knows how her husband can act like a broody kid in the mornings. So, she hands him his morning coffee, strong and black, hoping that to cheer his mood a little. He sits up and sips from the mug, but shakes his head, “No, seriously. Why am I going?”

She rolls her eyes, “Because Toni is your best friend and it’s her baby shower.”

“No. Archie is my best friend and he is not having a baby shower”, he argues, voice still groggy. She sighs heavily, “Okay. But Toni is your other best friend. Now, shower and get ready for me, please?” He tugs her closer, nuzzling the crook of her neck with his nose and murmurs, “For you, I can do anything.”

She knows that he is not lying. He will do anything for her. he will follow her to the end of the world, as he has done for last 8 years. In all the ups and downs of their relationship, in all the late night or early morning visits to the ER for her health, in all the times away from each other for his book signing tours, one thing has never been changed that they would stick together whatever comes their way. She smiles at him fondly and kisses his forehead, “I know.”

She calls Jellybean while Jughead is in the shower. They reconnected with Jughead’s sister and mother since their wedding. Jellybean and his mom both came to the function. Betty knew how much having his whole family present will mean to him. So, she consulted with FP and contacted JB. When the girl got the news of the marriage, she was way too happy to attend the ceremony. Her father and sister also came. Her sister hugged her with teary eyes and said sorry for not being in regular contact for the past years. For the first time in her life she saw her dad looking at her proudly. She did not want her dad to walk her the isle though. She knew that she only had one real parent and that is her mom. She did not care about any social convention. Alice walked her through the isle, happy tears in her eyes as she whispered to her daughter, “You are looking gorgeous, honey.”

Jughead was looking handsome in the wedding suit Veronica forced him to wear. She was nervous, but once she started walking towards the stage, she locked eyes with him, then all the fear and uncertainty were gone, just like every time they look at each other. They are each other’s destination, each other’s anchor. They have always been. The ceremony was simple but blissful with all their friends and family. Archie and Veronica were already engaged. Cheryl and Toni announced their marriage on Betty and Jughead’s wedding day. Jughead joked, “Did I start this trend of proposal on your friend’s wedding day?”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The theme of the baby shower party seems red, in a very Cheryl Blossom way. The place is a short 10 minutes’ drive from their apartment. Once they enter inside, all familiar faces surround them. Some are strangers from Cheryl’s workplace, but mostly it’s their friends’ group. After all the bear hugs and shoulder claps, they give Toni the present.

Jughead comments, “Wow Toni, you look…big”.

Toni glares at him before punching him on his shoulder, “Hilarious, Jones, as always.”

Betty was hanging near the bar; she does not drink alcohol but today’s party is alcohol free anyways. She asked for a soda and looked at her friends. Jughead and Veronica arguing as usual about something, Archie is trying to calm them down, Kevin is watching the argument with an amused expression. She chuckles at that scene. It’s such a common scene, she can remember numerous times she has witnessed the exact same situation in Pop’s, in school corridors, at their lockers, even on their prom day. She was lost in memories when someone tapped her shoulder, “Hi. Is the seat taken?” A tall, blonde man is pointing to the seat next to her.

She replies, “No” and goes back to sipping her soda. The man starts a conversation, “I don’t think I know you. I am Brett by the way. I work with Cheryl in the same fashion house.”

She smiles gently, “I am their friend from high school, Betty.” The man is eyeing her in a way that prompted her to clutch her purse a little tighter. She is not really used to men flirting with her. Mainly because she shows off her phone’s wallpaper of her and Jughead laughing together or her wedding ring, early in the conversation to avoid that kind of situation. But this guy ignored her wedding ring which is clearly displayed in her finger wrapped around the glass. After some moments of awkward silence, he suddenly says, “You have a body of a model, you know.”

What? She thinks shocked, is that a new pickup line? But she is way too polite to show that. So, she replies simply, “Thanks.”

Brett insists further, “You should consider modelling as your career option.”

Now she feels a little annoyed, “No. Thanks. I am good.”

Brett looks at her for some time before changing the subject completely, “So, where’s your husband?” The question catches her off-guard, “What?” The guy gestures at her finger, “The wedding band suggests that you have a husband. What kind of a guy leaves his beautiful wife alone in the bar?”

This is getting irritating now, she thinks. But before she could answer anything, she feels the familiar touch of hands on her shoulder, “You okay there, Betts?” She threads her fingers with his and replies, “Yeah. This gentleman was just asking for you.”

“For _me_?” Jughead cocks an eyebrow questioningly at the man. “Well, you are my husband. So, yes”, she replies with a coy smile. Brett nods curtly at Jughead and leaves.

“Was he flirting with you?” he asks, looking at his wife. She wraps her arms around his torso and asks back, “Are you jealous, Mr Jones?” He strokes her arm making small circles and grins, “Nah. Why should _I_ be jealous? You are my wife, not his.”

Cheryl makes a big issue for all of them not following the function’s colour code which apparently was mentioned in the invitation. Jughead rolls his eyes. Veronica comments something about not having a matching shoe with red dress. Archie argues his red tie should be enough for adhering to the colour code. Kevin points out that he has a red wrist band. It seems only Betty is wearing a proper red dress and Cheryl promises her, “Betty, you are the only one who will be invited to any future Blossom events.” “Blossom-Topaz”, Toni corrects her from the sofa.

It’s a fun day with friends. They catch up on their lives. They chat for hours. She knows that after returning home they will cuddle on the couch and watch a rerun of her favourite series or they will mock fight over choice of movies. It all seems nice. But still she feels an emptiness inside. She cannot pinpoint what that is. Until, Kevin announces that they are going to adopt a boy. Kevin and Joaquin were trying this painfully long adoption process, all knew that. Finally, they are going to have the custody for this little boy, named Evans. Kevin shows them a picture of an adorable toddler with big brown eyes and curly hair. As soon as she saw the picture, she knew. She knew where this empty feeling is coming from. She wants a baby, their baby. One with her blonde hair and his blue eyes, or maybe his black curls and her green eyes. But she wants a baby who will have half of both of them. She does not know how much time they have left. She always knew that they were on borrowed time. But with each ER visits, each changing medication, each scan report, it seems like they are running out of it. And she wants to experience motherhood before the time runs out. Jughead must have noticed her face, lost in thought. He asks, concerned, “Are you okay? Do you want to go home?”

She bites her lower lip and looks at her husband, “I want a baby, Jug.”

He seems startled at this sudden request. She adds, “ _our_ baby.”

“Jesus Betty! I was really planning to steal a random baby to meet your demand”, he deadpans. She slaps his chest, “ha-ha”.

Then he smiles at her, the same smile that he gives her when she wants to eat ice cream at midnight and says softly, “Okay. But we need to consult our physician for that.”

She nods, “I know. It’s just…I feel we don’t have much time, Jug.”

“Hey”, he tilts her head to make her look him in the eyes, “We have all the time in the world. It’s our world. Okay?”

Doctor Brown has always been kind and sympathetic to this young couple. He has been Betty’s regular cardiologist from the time they moved to New York. He checked all the medical records and the latest test results before confirming them that there is no complication for pregnancy as of now. But he warned them at the same time, “Some complications might arise during the course of pregnancy. You have to be prepared for that.” They nod. The doctor adds, “We also need to perform regular tests to ensure that the child does not inherit the heart condition.”

That is the scariest thing about their pregnancy. But they do not have any other option. Jughead was ready to adopt a child. But Betty did not want that. She never told Jughead, but she wanted to leave a part of her flesh with him when her time comes. She is ready to go through any amount of difficulties and take all the chances for that. He does not deserve to be left alone with only memories.

* * *

She forgets the pain of her stitch by looking at the living doll in her arms, she has gorgeous green eyes just like her mother and raven hair like her father. Their daughter is healthy and perfectly fine. She cries holding their little girl to her chest. Jughead comes into her cabin, teary-eyed. They both hold onto each-other for a long time, at a loss for words. They feel complete and content.

Their friends pop up in the evening. Betty has to hush them from screaming in excitement to avoid the baby waking up. Veronica hugs her tight and whispers, “If you have not decided on baby name yet, Veronica is up for grab. You know, the name represents elegance.”

Archie looks at his wife with heart eyes, “That is true.”

Jughead snorts, “No thanks. I want our daughter to be able to grow up without Chanel perfume and Gucci bags.” Veronica makes a face at him. Betty stifles a laughter. She never gets tired of the endless feud between her husband and her bestie.

Cheryl comes with red baby socks and a list of most fashionable baby names. As soon as she started reading the list out loud, Jughead groaned and left the room with Cheryl and Toni’s toddler, Adam. The little guy is very much fond of Jughead. Whenever Betty sees him with Adam, she cannot help but smile at the cuteness. Little Adam loves it and giggles uncontrollably whenever Jughead throws him in the air lightly and catches.

Toni held her hand and assured, “I know Jug can be a pain in the ass sometimes but he is going to be an amazing dad.” Cheryl cocked her eyebrows, “sometimes?” Betty laughed, “He’s an amazing husband, Cher. I’m sure he will be the best dad to our daughter.” Cheryl shrugged and said in a very unconvinced tone, “If you say so, Betty”.

FP and Alice both came the next day. Alice held her daughter and granddaughter and sobbed for a long time. Betty cried with her mom. FP said, amused, “Is the stream of happy tears hereditary in Cooper genes?” Alice gave a watery laugh and corrected, “It’s Smith genes, FP.”

Alice and Hal had their divorce a couple of years back. But after so many years of separation, that did not matter much. Polly was already settled in her life with her husband in Canada. Betty was in New York. Alice was happy for her daughters. She has always been protective specially for Betty. So, she was really relieved Betty having a supportive and understanding partner like Jughead. FP is her childhood friend. She always trusted the good nature Jughead inherited from his father.

Betty wiped away her tears and handed their little one to her grandparents. FP’s eyes became watery while swaying the bundle of joy in his arms.

“Have you guys thought of a name, yet?” Alice asked.

Betty nods, looking at her husband, “Maya.” Alice says, “It’s a beautiful name, honey.”

Jughead clears his throat, “Well, it also has beautiful meanings. In Old Persian ‘Maya’ means ‘generous’. In the Nepali language, ‘Maya’ means ‘love’. But the actual reason we came up with this name is that ‘Maya’ is not in any of the baby name lists that Veronica or Cheryl shared.”

All of them laugh together. Betty looks at the elated faces around her. It almost feels perfect and natural. 

* * *

Jughead was waiting for the doctor. He had a bad feeling about this. It’s been couple of months since their daughter’s birth. The doctor insisted to have a monthly cardiac CT scan after the delivery. The latest CT scan report is not good. He is no medical expert, but being with Betty for last 10 years have taught him the basic medical terms for this disease. And if he understands correctly, the latest report is not very promising. As he enters the chamber, he feels a chill through his spine even before the doctor looks at him.

“What is it Doc? You are giving me a dark vibe”, he tries to lighten the mood. Doctor Brown smiles generously, “Mr Jones, I have both positive and negative news. The good news is that your wife has moved up on the list, so if we find a suitable donor, we can perform the heart transplant. The other news is, we need to have the transplant at the earliest as the medicines are not effective anymore. Her condition is deteriorating.”

A pit settles in his stomach. He has noticed for the past month that Betty becomes tired really quick, sometimes she feels breathless with only feeding the baby. But he wanted to believe that it’s all post-pregnancy fatigue. They both wanted to believe that. So, they never talked about those small incidents of breathlessness or falling asleep. Instead, he tried to manage the household chores as much as possible to give her rest. He has given up the teaching job to be at home and spend time with his favorite girls. They are happy and they are finally a family. Their daughter is so small. She will never know how kind and sweet her mother was. As the thought came to his mind, he scolds himself. It’s not the end of their world. It’s a surgery. Heart transplant is not a very uncommon process. It might be successful. With a new ray of hope, he asks, “Doc, can you please tell me honestly, what are the chances of success?”

The doctor looks at him kindly, “The success rate for the process is quite high, Mr Jones. But considering your wife’s condition, I will say it’s 50-50. But we will do our best.”

His heart sinks. Of course, it has to be lower for them. It’s Jones luck, he thinks bitterly. Sometimes he wonders if him marrying Betty actually reduced her life expectancy.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jughead stumbles through their front door, “Betty”.

She replies from the nursery, “I’m in here.”

Kevin, Veronica and Cheryl took main initiatives to design the nursery perfectly. Despite of relentless protests from Jughead, they brought a cute baby crib and a baby cot, lots of toys and a pink wallpaper. He takes his time to slowly walk towards nursery door. He takes in every corner of their home, decorated with love. He looks at every picture frame on the walls, on the centerpiece, on the bookshelf. The happy moments. He touches the spines of the books they bought together. Every month they would reserve one Saturday for their bookstore visit. They found a small bookstore almost 20-minutes’ drive away. It was a peaceful store with lots of second hand books. When they first moved to the city, he was working on his novel and Betty got a job in some small magazine. They did not have enough money to spend on books. But money has never been a problem in their relationship. They have always been happy. They would have been happy even in the old trailer in the Sunnyside Trailer Park if they were together. Even after they became successful in their career, the trips to that bookstore was a constant in their life. Just like the old Italian restaurant in the corner of their street. They discovered it by accident one day. The food was so good, and the owner was a smiling old couple. They fell in love with that place. Jughead’s knees give up, he sits on floor leaning on the wall of their living room. He always knew this day would come. He told Betty numerous times that there are no happy endings, because endings always hurt. It’s only happy beginnings that matter. They have experienced so many happy beginnings together, latest being their parenthood. But why it is so hard to let go? Why is it so painful to accept the inevitable end? He did not know when the tears started flowing through his cheeks.

Betty came out to the living room, searching for him. She came to sit beside him. He knew that she would know. She would know the moment she looks at his face. So, he wanted to hide his face as long as possible. He has always been very good at hiding emotions. But not from Betty. Not today.

“So, when is the surgery happening?” she asks in a hushed tone.

He looks at her through tears, “As soon as we get a suitable donor.” She nods, “Okay”.

She touches his cheek and brushes the tears away; he leans on her touch. She says in a very calm voice, “Juggie, we always knew this. You were the one who encouraged me to make this experience memorable. We have made so many memories together. We have made our daughter together. We will be okay.”

He rests his head on her chest. She combs through his long curls, “Even if I have to leave, I will wait for you. We will meet again. Maybe in another universe, maybe in another time. But this is not the end, you hear me? This is not the end of us.”

Wrapped in his wife’s arms, he realizes that she is undeniably the strongest person he has ever met.


	7. Something that is loved is never lost

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this story has come to an end. Thanks to all people who took their time to read, left kudos or comment.

Pressing a soft kiss on her lips Jughead pulls back, their foreheads resting together, feeling each other’s heartbeats for a long time before Betty whispers, “Thank you, Jug.”

Jughead tries to take in even the tiniest details of her feature, drinking in her presence as long as possible, “What for?”

“For everything, for giving me my happily ever after”, she smiles softly, her heart breaking a little, knowing very well this might be their last conversation. He smiles back, “Thank you for coming into my life, Betts.”

“Take care of Maya, okay? And take care of yourself”, Betty pushes the unruly curl from his forehead back, “And Juggie, there’s a pack of chips hidden in our bedroom cabinet, save it for your midnight cravings.” She desperately tries to swallow the lump in her throat.

Jughead chuckles, trying his best to hide the tears in his eyes and the crack in his voice, “You are an enigma, Mrs. Jones!”

And with that, nurses came with the stretcher to take Betty to surgery. Their hands separated, none of them wanted to let go but they had to, eventually.

Even before the red light of the operating room turned off and the surgeon came out with a sympathetic look on his face, he knew. He knew that it was where one world will cease to exist, _their_ world. But he also knew that the world they created together will remain in its place and that world will provide him shelter, in their daughter’s laughter, in their friends’ embrace, in their parents’ love, in all the joyful memories. Maybe they both knew that. They did not say goodbye, because they both knew that it’s not the end of their story. Their story will never end.

*************************************************************************************************************************************************

_“Dear Diary,_

_When I was a kid, I never wanted to become those old, boring couple who always fight and forget to enjoy life. I guess destiny has a funny way of fulfilling our wishes, huh? If only I could take back my childhood wish now and make a new one of becoming old with my Jug, falling in love with him a little more every day for the rest of our lives, enjoying this beautiful journey for some more time with our daughter, seeing her grow into a gorgeous lady!_

_If I make it out alive today, I promise to come back with the stories of new adventures. But if I cannot, I just wanted to write how grateful I am. I am grateful for my mom who has always supported me throughout all the difficulties. I am grateful to have best friends like Archie, V and Kevin. I am grateful for the love of my life, my husband, who taught me how to make the life a happy journey. I am grateful for the bundle of joy, playing in the baby cot, my Maya. And I am grateful for the last 10 blissful years. I have lived a thousand lifetimes in them.”_

Maya closes her Mom’s journal, trying not to cry at the last entry. She knows what happened next. Now she knows everything. Now she knows her mom. Now she understands her dad and the magical love story her parents had. It’s been 6 years since little Maya asked her dad why he loved a girl knowing that she would be gone. Her dad chose not to answer her right away but to make her experience every bits of that story. He had gifted her some of her Mom’s journals along with other birthday presents for the last 6 years. He had told her parts of their story on every occasion. Maya re-read all her Dad’s published mystery novels after knowing that her Mom has been the inspiration for the lead detective character.

Now she knows the stories behind every photo her Dad ever decorated their house with. The photo frames used to feel be like some frozen point in time for her, but not anymore. Knowing the memories associated with each photo makes them full of life. The photo with Uncle Archie, Aunt Ronnie, her parents and Uncle Kevin was clicked by her grandpa, in Pop’s on the very first day of their senior year. They all look happy and excited in the photo, and Maya can feel the emotion now. The photo of her Mom and Aunt Ronnie, pouting at the camera lens was taken by Uncle Kevin when they won a quiz competition. The picture of her Mom amidst wild nature, the colour of fall making a striking contrast against her pale skin and blonde hair, was taken by her Dad, on their honeymoon in a quiet European village. The spark in her Mom’s eyes and the genuine happiness in her smile clearly shows that she is staring at the photographer, not the lens and she is madly in love with him. The group photo of her parents with all other friends in purple graduation robes, her Mom giggling and everyone is looking so proud to have finished high school. She can practically hear her Mom’s giggle now, looking at the photo. A casual snap of her parents, sitting in a booth at Pop’s, her Dad’s mouth is stuffed with burger and her Mom is placing a sweet kiss on his cheek, cupping his face in one hand. A rare but intimate moment that makes her happy every time she sees how lively and content her parents have been with each other despite of all the challenges life had thrown their way. There are so many photos, in their college campus in New Haven, some birthday party at Uncle Archie’s house, a short camping trip with Aunt Toni and Aunt Cheryl, 4th July fireworks in her Grandparent’s backyard, her parent’s wedding. But her favourite photo is not framed on the wall. She found that photo pressed in one of her Mom’s journal and came to know from her writings that this is the very first photo of them together. It was on their homecoming, junior year. Her Mom is in a light blue dress, beaming at the lens, holding her Dad’s hand. Her dad is in a black dress shirt, forcing an awkward smile, clearly not comfortable with the camera or the dress-up, but the happiness is showing in his eyes. Two innocent high school teenagers, madly in love, determined to fight the destiny.

With all the stories, all the photos, all the writings, this house feels like home to her now. A home that her parents created, with love and passion and promises.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The school starts tomorrow. Maya knows she better try to sleep early but she cannot. Instead, she gets up from her bed, tiptoes toward the living room and finds herself watching her parents wedding video for the millionth time. She loves listening to the vows her parents took, after knowing their relationship it makes so much more sense.

Her Mom looks absolutely gorgeous in her white dress, golden hair put up in a neat bun, eyes sparkling with excitement and joy. Aunt Ronnie, Aunt Toni and Aunt Cheryl all dressed in golden and royal blue bridesmaid dresses. Her Dad dressed in a simple but elegant black suit, his signature beanie gone exposing his midnight hair, a content grin on his face. Uncle Archie and Uncle Kevin are dressed up as his groomsmen. 

“Life is not fair. But with you, Jughead Jones, it seems worth it”, smiling affectionately at the groom, the beautiful bride continues, “you are the one to make me realize that life is not about the destination, but about the journey, it’s not about the achievements but about the experiences. And I know, it does not matter where this journey leads me, you will always be the one I am willing to experience it with.”

Her father rolls his eyes and mouths “cheesy” to his bride before proceeding to take his own vow.

“I never believed in love, neither in magic. But then you came, you made me believe in the magic of love. I was surviving before you, sure, but I never lived until you”, his voice is filled with genuine emotions, “Betty Cooper, you are my today and you are my forever. The only happy ending I care about is being with you.”

Maya pauses the video, wipes her tears away, but before she can hit the play again, she hears her father, “What are doing up late, peanut?”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jughead enters the room, surprised to see his daughter awake in the middle of the night, sitting in their living room. But as soon as he sees the video playing, he understood. It was her 16th birthday yesterday, she has now finished all of Betty’s journals and Jughead told her so many stories, their stories. He knows, the absence of her mother can be overwhelming sometimes for a teenager, specially to a daughter. He goes to sit on the sofa beside Maya, offers her the popcorn he was eating. Maya giggles, being well aware of her Dad’s ever-present appetite. She takes a few popcorns before asking, “Dad, do you miss her?” Jughead smiles at this, “All the time, honey. But you know what, we promised to continue celebrating our lives, together or apart. So, instead of mourning the loss, why don’t we rejoice what we had?”

Maya thinks for a while before answering, “But, I don’t even have memories, with Mom. I don’t have any moment to rejoice.”

“Sure, you do”, Jughead goes towards the old DVD player. This is one of the things that they brought from their old Riverdale home while coming to the New York city. He searches through the small cabinet where he stored some of the old DVDs until he finds the one. After changing the DVD in the player, he comes back to his daughter and says, “this is a small one, not even minutes. But you will love this. Ready?” Maya nods, confused. He hits play.

A few seconds of blank screen. Then the camera focuses on a bed. Betty is sitting on the bed holding little Maya, may be a month old. She looks tired but happy at the same time. Her gorgeous green eyes filled with amusement as she continues bouncing Maya in her arms. Jughead comes into the screen, checking the lens and giving a thumbs up to whoever holding the camera. He goes to sit on the bed, wraps his wife and their baby in his arms. Betty giggles and leans on his chest. A perfect happy family moment. After a few seconds, Jughead asks, furrowing his brows, “Dad, did you click the picture?” FP’s confused voice fills the speaker, “I don’t know, son. Maybe?” Jughead throws his hands in frustration. Betty giggles harder, holding her daughter in one hand and clutching her husband’s arm in another. Jughead pulls himself up and walks toward the camera. A few moments of the room view and then it ends abruptly.

Maya has never seen this one before. Dad was right, it’s a really short one. But this is one of their memory together, all three of them, as a family. She asks him, “Why didn’t I watch it before?” “Because this is a perfect watch for your sixteenth birthday, the night before school”, he says with a smirk. Maya rolls her eyes, “So, that picture was never clicked?”

“Don’t worry, I took a screenshot afterwards and framed it.”

“Where? I have never seen that photo”, she demands.

“Well, it is there. But it’s not on ‘display’”, he air-quotes. “Come here”, he takes their daughter to his room, their room, and gestures her to open the first drawer on bedside cabinet. Maya finds the framed picture of their family moment lying inside the drawer. She runs her fingers on the picture, it seems so real, so natural.

“Keep it with you, kiddo”, he says, “I have enough memories to last forever.” Maya hugs him, tightening her grip, “Thank you, Dad. Thank you being _you_. “

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After tossing and turning in bed for almost two hours, Jughead finally gives up on the idea of falling asleep. His mind is clouded with thousands of memories. Closing his eyes, he can feel the warmth of Betty’s body against his. He can inhale her scent, she smells like strawberry and vanilla, as always. He can hear her voice ringing through his ears, “You will never lose me.”

Exhaling heavily, he sits up on bed and pulls out his mobile, scrolling to a name, most-dialled once and not touched for last decade. With a deep sigh escaping his chest, he presses the call button. It goes to the voicemail as expected and he is greeted with a voice too familiar, “You have reached Betty Cooper-Jones. I cannot receive the call right now. Please leave a message and I will call you back. Or, if you are Archie or V or Kev, I am ignoring you and spending time with my wonderful husband. I will not call back.” With a giggle the voicemail ends. All the tensions and uneasiness in his body seem to wash away at that voice. He cannot help but smile to himself at how this trick still works, after all these years. After losing Betty, he always called her mobile out of habit. A habit that was required to keep him going for the first 5 years. He gave her updates about Maya’s first step, recorded and played Maya’s first words, first day at day care, first day of school. He has listened to her voice in times of crisis, he has left her messages to share all the good news. But even after 16 years, her voice seems to calm his senses. He waits for the beep and records a new message, “Hey there, Juliet. It’s me. I know it’s been a long time. But trying to survive in a world without your touch took all the strength I had. I just wanted to tell you that I love you. I have never stopped loving you and I never will”, with a slight pause, he adds,” I am not sure I can.”


End file.
